enlarge When Rupert Murdoch gave his testimony earlier this week in London, former New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein was sitting directly behind him. After a stormy tenure in New York City where he fought teachers unions and closed schools according to the Michelle Rhee School Destruction Model , he left and took what looked to be a cushy job at News Corp helping Murdoch launch his for-profit education products. Getting in the middle of another public dustup was the last thing on his agenda when he joined Murdoch’s media empire last November as a $2 million-a-year executive vice president, leaving his flap-prone post as chancellor of New York City’s school system to sit on News Corp.’s board of directors and advise the company’s entry into the for-profit education market . Klein is nothing if not savvy in the ways of big media companies; his wife, Nicole Seligman, is chief counsel for the Sony Corp. But Klein doesn’t just have ties to Rupert Murdoch. He’s also “like this” with Michelle Rhee from his time in New York. GothamSchools.org, in 2009: Michelle Rhee touted her red-track/green-track teacher pay proposal last night at Pace University, saying it’s made such a splash that Mayor Bloomberg asked Chancellor Joel Klein if they could bring a similar model to New York. The proposal, which is being negotiated with the D.C. teachers union right now, would award some first-year teachers nearly $40,000 raises in exchange for giving up their tenure rights — while others could choose a “red” path where they retain tenure but are paid less. Rhee said the model came up in a recent chat with Klein, who she said she speaks to regularly to share “best practices” and to commiserate. Klein told her that Mayor Bloomberg had asked if they could bring the red/green plan to New York. “Apparently Klein said to him, ‘Not even you have enough money to do all of that in New York City,’” she said. Rhee’s plan, if passed, will be financed by private philanthropy for the first five years , she said. See that private philanthropy claim there at the bottom? This is a Rhee hallmark. She rides into school districts on promises of private benefactors if only those schools will just clean up their acts and get it together the way she envisions. She doesn’t name the private benefactors, so let me name a few who spend millions of dollars on Rhee’s enterprises: Devos, Walton, and the Friedman foundations, whose sole goal is to turn public school districts private. She’ll deny that, of course, but as was reported over at Daily Kos , she slipped up and let it out with regard to Tennessee: In essence, Rhee has been edging out of the closet on this issue, showing her opposition to collective bargaining first and foremost through her actions, but slipping every now and then and letting it come through in her words. That’s what happened in Tennessee over the weekend, in which she talked about her support for school vouchers privatization, and: She also praised the Tennessee legislature for its recent stances on education, calling its work “aggressive and courageous laws.” That would be a clear reference to the Tennessee bill eliminating collective bargaining and preventing teachers’ unions from making campaign contributions or lobbying the state legislature; it was passed at the same time as a bill allowing corporations to give direct contributions to political candidates. To this point, Rhee has been working the “Democrat who saw the light” angle as she works overwhelmingly with Republicans. That image has deteriorated to the point where she had to shore up her credentials as a non-Republican by hiring DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan to shill for Students First. But at this point, you have to wonder why she’s making the even a halfhearted effort to pretend she’s anything but a John Kasich-Rick Scott-Scott Walker Republican when it comes to education issues. The Nation ties it up in a nice neat package: But what’s been less well understood is the impact the scandal might have on Murdoch’s attempt to make a profit off the American public sector, most notably through seeking to provide technology services, such as data-tracking systems and video lessons, to public school districts . Last November, shortly after hiring Klein, News Corp. acquired Wireless Generation, an education technology firm that had worked closely with Klein during his tenure as chancellor on two projects: ARIS, a controversial (and buggy) data system that warehouses students’ standardized test scores and demographic profiles; and School of One , a more radical attempt to use technology to personalize instruction, reorganize classrooms, and reduce the size of the teaching force.The acquisition put Klein, who was set to supervise Wireless Generation, in an awkward position vis à vis city ethics regulations. Back to those non-profits for a minute. It’s no secret that Rhee has set a goal of securing $1 billion in donations for her Students First organization in order to evangelize her message to reform privatize our public school system and destroy unions. Those goals are perfectly in line with Murdoch’s business model with regard to his education products too. So do they have a connection, given the common links with Klein? Possibly, as The Nation reports. But scrutiny on Murdoch’s school agenda is growing. Aware of the media titan’s relationship with former DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, education reporter Alexander Russo tried to find out if Murdoch had donated to StudentsFirst , Rhee’s PAC. The group’s goal is to act as a political counterweight to teachers’ unions.“After two days of emails and phone calls—they must have been freaking out behind the scenes trying to figure out what to do—a Rhee spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the Murdoch money,” Russo wrote .“ Our policy doesn’t allow me to reveal who our donors are or aren’t ,” the spokesman said. Watch this space for more. It would be great if the FBI would look at those ties in addition to what they’re already investigating. I’ll be watching.
Continue reading …
Scale of massacre at summer camp on island becomes clear after police discover more victims of Norwegian gunman A Norwegian dressed as a police officer killed at least 80 people at an island retreat, police said early on Saturday. It took investigators several hours to begin to realise the full scope of the massacre, which followed an explosion in Oslo that killed seven and that police say was set off by the same suspect. Police initially said about 10 people were killed at the camp on the island of Utøya, but some survivors said they thought the toll was much higher. Police director Øystein Mæland told reporters early on Saturday they had discovered many more victims. “It’s taken time to search the area. What we know now is that we can say that there are at least 80 killed at Utøya,” Mæland said. “It goes without saying that this gives dimensions to this incident that are exceptional.” Mæland said the death toll could rise even more. He said others were severely injured, but police did not know how many were hurt. A suspect in the shootings and the Oslo explosion was arrested. Though police did not release his name, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and said police searched his Oslo apartment overnight. A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that “it seems that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway’s police. The official said the attack “is probably more Norway’s Oklahoma City than it is Norway’s World Trade Center.” The motive was unknown, but both attacks were in areas connected to the ruling Labour party government. The youth camp, about 20 miles northwest of Oslo, is organised by the party’s youth wing, and the prime minister had been scheduled to speak there on Saturday. The blast in Oslo left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings. Most of the windows in the block where the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, and his administration work were shattered. The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Oslo bombing occurred at 3.26pm local time, and the camp shootings began one to two hours later. The official said the gunman used automatic weapons and handguns, and that there was at least one unexploded device at the youth camp that a police bomb disposal team and military experts were disarming. Seven people were killed by the blast in Oslo, four of whom have been identified. Nine or 10 people were seriously injured. Norway Europe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
enlarge Neville Thurlbeck – focus of the latest batch of horror. Click here to view this media Click here to view this media As was reported yesterday, there are now growing questions over the honesty of the testimony given by James Murdoch during the Inquiry hearings on Tuesday. One centers around Neville Thurlbeck, who was a registered unpaid Police informant and has been a key suspect in the phone hacking scandal and an e-mail and attached file that carefully listed transcribed hacked messages. Murdoch denies any knowledge of the e-mail, however former NoTW editor Colin Myler and former head of legal affairs for News Of The World Tom Crone claim the younger Murdoch had full knowledge of the “For Neville” e-mail and file and has been lying to the Commission . If this winds up being true, and Murdoch is found to be lying, it tosses an enormous question mark over the entire testimony on Tuesday and puts James Murdoch in the position of being arrested and held for further questioning. The end, it appears, is nowhere in sight and one imagines there won’t be any rest for the weekend. So today there are two clips – one from the BBC Radio 4 morning Program Today where BBC Legal editor Robert Peston is asked about the implications of this latest disclosure. The second clip is the news later on in the day as the story was developing via the BBC Radio 4 Program PM and the findings of the PM Privacy Commission. Incidentally, the entire report is available as a pdf download from the PM blog via BBC Radio 4. A very interesting read. Certainly timely. Between the initial Today report and the PM report, attention was diverted because of the bombings in Oslo Norway and much of the news was focused on that. PM was going to devote the entire hour to results of the PM Privacy Commission findings regarding the News media and the recent disclosures. Instead, it was reduced to a little over a half hour, with the bulk of the broadcast dealing with the developing story in Norway, as two were reported dead at the time. Since airing (at 9:00 am PDT) the number of dead has risen to 16 and wounded has risen dramatically. So here is the latest regarding the ongoing saga of Rupertgate as of 9:00 am PDT.
Continue reading …
US on brink of economic crisis after negotiations over outline of $3tn cuts package and tax rises break down The US is on the brink of a major economic crisis after negotiations between Barack Obama and Republican Congressional leaders over the national debt dramatically broke downon Friday. Obama, showing anger, passion and verbosity rare in public in his two-and-a-half years as president, called a press conference at the White House at short notice to express his frustration with the Republicans. He told reporters there had been “a breakdown in trust” between the White House and the Republican leadership. In a snub to the president, the Republican leader in the House, John Boehner, failed to return calls from the White House throughout the day, with his office saying he was unavailable. Boehner finally called the president on Friday evening to inform him the Republicans were walking away from weeks of negotiation aimed at resolving the country’s debt crisis. The collapse in talks comes with 10 days left until the US, for the first time in its history, faces the prospect of defaulting. If it fails to raise its $14.3tn (£8.7tn) borrowing ceiling, there will be serious consequences for not only the US economy but other countries around the world. The Republican withdrawal came just a day after Obama and Boehner had seemed close to an agreement on the broad outlines of a package to cut $3tn in federal spending over the next 10 years, and to raise some taxes. But Boehner was unable to sell it to diehard Republicans in the House, many of whom were elected last year with the support of the Tea party movement, which seeks deep cuts in spending but no tax rises. In a letter published just minutes after Obama began to speak, Boehner said: “In the end, we couldn’t connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country.” He blamed Obama for failing to agree to deep cuts in social security and other welfare benefits and for demanding that taxes be raised. “For these reasons, I have decided to end discussions with the White House,” Boehner said. An exasperated Obama called Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders to meet at the White House at 11 o’clock on Saturday morning to offer alternative proposals for dealing with the looming deadline on the debt ceiling. The president insisted that the debt ceiling had to be raised or Americans across the country would suffer. “We’ve got to get it done. It is not an option not to do it,” he said. If there is no deal, he said, he could not guarantee that the 70 million cheques due to go out to social security recipients, veterans and others on 3 August, the day after the deadline, would be sent. The US chamber of commerce expressed nervousness over the prospect of America’s credit rating being downgraded. Federal payments to state governments could also be hit. State governors are laying down emergency plans, with California, among others, looking for alternative sources of borrowing to tide it over. Banks and businesses are also working feverishly preparing for worst-case scenarios. The crisis is the biggest test of wills yet between Obama and hardline Republicans endorsed by the Tea party movement. It dwarfs the stand-off earlier this year when the federal government faced shutdown. According to the Treasury, America reached its borrowing limit of $14.3tn on 16
Continue reading …
At least seven people are killed in bombing and 30 are feared shot at a political youth camp near capital Norway has suffered the worst attack in its postwar history as terrorists bombed Oslo’s central government district and opened fire at a political youth camp on an island near the capital. At least seven people were reported killed and scores injured in the city centre, while unconfirmed reports on Norwegian television said up to 30 young people may have been shot on the island by a man dressed as a policeman. The Oslo blast damaged buildings and blew out windows over more than a half-mile radius, filling the area with smoke and littering it with shards of metal. Emergency services were still trying to assess the scale of the attack, combing offices in the area in the search for more victims. The detonation took place near the 17-storey government building where the prime minister has his offices and the headquarters of Norway’s biggest tabloid paper, VG. Witnesses said tables in the paper’s basement cafeteria were smeared with blood and scattered with glass and other debris. Residents were told to stay away from the town centre, or stay in their homes and hotel rooms. In what Norwegian police said was a co-ordinated attack, about 700 youth members of the Labour party, some as young as 15, who were holding their annual summer camp on an island of Utoya, a lake west of Oslo, came under fire by a man dressed as a policeman armed with an automatic weapon. According to tweets by people at the event, some children escaped by climbing trees, hiding in the bushes or swimming away from the island. One party youth member tweeted: “We are sitting down by the beach. A man is shooting clothed in a police uniform. Help us! When are the police coming to help us!” Counter-terrorist police flew to the island and it was reported that a man, described in reports as tall and blond, had been arrested. The prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who was due to attend the camp today, was reported to have been working at home and to have been unharmed by the blast, as were the rest of the cabinet. Stoltenberg appealed to Norwegians not to be cowed. “Co-workers have lost their lives today. It’s frightening,” he told the broadcaster NRK. “That’s not how we want things in our country. “But it’s important that we don’t let ourselves be scared. Because the purpose of that kind of violence is to create fear.” Those close to the site described the blast’s force as devastating. “The whole building was shaking. It was dancing,” said Jon Magnus, VG’s chief foreign correspondent, who was blown out of his chair by the force of the explosion. “There was glass flying through the newsroom. I was on the far side of the building from where the prime minister’s office is. The entire glass front of our building has been blown out.” It was unclear who was behind the attacks, but there has been growing unease in Norway that the country had little protection against such assaults, while exposing itself to terrorism through its military operations abroad. There was speculation that yesterday’s attacks could be linked to Norway’s military involvement in Nato operations in Afghanistan, where it has 500 soldiers, or Libya, where Norwegian jet fighters are flying sorties. Norwegian television reported that a previously unknown group called “Helpers of the Global Jihad” had posted a message online claiming the attacks were “only the beginning” of a response to the decision by Norwegian periodicals, like other Scandinavian media, to publish cartoons portraying the prophet Muhammad. Last week a Norwegian prosecutor charged an Iraqi Kurdish cleric, Mullah Krekar, the founder of the Ansar al-Islam militant group, with making death threats against Norwegian politicians. In July last year police arrested three Muslim immigrants from Iraq, Uzbekistan and China for allegedly plotting bomb attacks using peroxide explosives. The authorities said the suspects had links with al-Qaida and one of them visited the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, an al-Qaida stronghold. Norway presented a softer target than other western capitals with experience of terrorism. Government buildings were not protected by bollards or anti-blast curtains. Observers predicted Norway’s relaxed attitude to security would change, as in neighbouring Sweden, which was hit by a suicide blast against Christmas shoppers in Stockholm. The bomber, Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, was an Iraqi-born Swede who studied in Britain. Norway Europe Global terrorism Julian Borger Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …“Glee” is not just an American TV show, it is also the emotion many people feel and express toward the trouble Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is having, since they consider Murdoch's properties a blight on their formerly pristine media landscape. There are two strains running through the phone-hacking scandal that monopolizes much of the media attention in the UK. One is the attitude of the mainstream media types who are frustrated by the success of Murdoch properties, most notably Fox News Channel in America (to which I contribute). They see Murdoch's troubles with the now shuttered News of the World tabloid as an opportunity to destroy the Murdoch empire, which they have been unable to do by competing with it. The second strain is legal. After the apparent suicide of a former News of the World reporter and unprecedented resignations of high-ranking officers at Scotland Yard, whose allegedly paid connections with News of the World are at the center of parliamentary and police inquiries, Labour and Tory politicians are positioning themselves for major political advantage. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed the Justice Department is looking into allegations that employees of News International, a division of News Corp, hacked, or attempted to hack, into the phones of 9/11 victims. Several Democratic members of Congress and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) have called for such an investigation. The response to this by the British and American mainstream media reeks of hypocrisy. Whatever one thinks of the morality of paying for news stories, the British press, under Labour and Tory governments, have been doing it for years. Fleet Street was built on cash for gossip. American media are slightly more sophisticated in pursuing “exclusive” stories. There are other forms of “payment” U.S. media make to politicians — mostly liberals — with whom they agree. They repeat the talking points of Democrats or refuse to challenge statements that are factually incorrect. They frequently fawn over people they like and challenge those they don't like. Call it a political version of an “in-kind” contribution. People who broke the law by hacking into phones should be punished, but this is more about liberal attempts to destroy Fox News, which liberals hate because it communicates ideas, issues and opinions that were mostly unavailable, or ignored, until the network launched in 1996. Fox News has not been implicated in the British phone hacking, but that won't stop its enemies from trying to make the connection. MSNBC's Martin Bashir compared Murdoch to Jack Abramoff and mobster James “Whitey” Bulger. There were similar over-the-top comments by other broadcast “journalists.” People can debate Fox's slogan “we report, you decide,” but the liberal mantra might more accurately be stated, “we distort, we decide.” The faux “virgins” in big media like to portray themselves as “above” the standards and practices of media owned by Murdoch, but past behavior exposes them as two-faced. Examples: In 2003, the New York Times reported that, “Michael Jackson struck a deal with CBS to be paid in effect an additional $1 million for both an entertainment special … and his interview on “60 Minutes” … part of yearlong negotiations.” The news magazine denied paying Jackson for the interview, but an associate of Jackson's said at the time the deal included the “60 Minutes” appearance. According to one of Casey Anthony's attorneys, ABC News paid $200,000 for photos of her dead daughter, Caylee. CBS News got off with a mere $20,000 “licensing fee” paid to Caylee's grandparents. When hero passenger Jasper Schuringa helped subdue the Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on a flight to Detroit and later snapped cellphone photos of the suspect being escorted off the plane in wrist restraints, CNN paid Schuringa a “licensing fee” for the images. CBS and ABC reportedly bid for the photos, according to TVNewser.com, ultimately earning Schuringa $18,000. If tabloids paid British police for information, then that would be a violation of journalistic ethics, if they still exist. American journalists had better look to their own motivations before casting stones at Rupert Murdoch. Whatever happens in Britain, Fox News will survive and prosper. And that will be a cause for glee to those who dislike reporting that comes from a single ideological worldview.
Continue reading …“Oh yes, she’s very tough,” said Rupert Murdoch prophetically about his protestor-smacking wife Wendi in an interview last month on Chinese TV. “Successful men need a critical wife, it brings him down to earth,” said the media mogul. Murdoch went on to give some rare insights into his personal life,…
Continue reading …An Arizona State professor wants his student to get smashed—and he’s willing to pay them to do it. That’s because William Corbin is researching the effects of alcohol on behavior, and ASU students are his subjects. Several nights a week, he converts his lab into a bar, complete with…
Continue reading …
Hundreds of thousands demonstrate as security forces kill at least 11 people with president rumoured to call elections Hundreds of thousands of Syrians turned out for anti-regime demonstrations across the country on Friday with at least 11 people reported killed by security forces and tensions mounting in the runup to the Ramadan holiday. Casualty figures – collated by two Syrian human rights groups – were down on previous weeks but the numbers of demonstrators appeared to be some of the largest yet seen in the four-month uprising. In Aleppo, Syria’s second city, unarmed military cadets were seen marching with civilian protesters and calling for the overthrow of the regime and the departure of President Bashar al-Assad. Damascus was unusually quiet after large demonstrations closer to the city centre last week but protests were reported from Deir Ezzor in the east to Suweida in the south. All were called to express solidarity with the people of the central city of Homs – the focal point of recent unrest – where some 40 people have been killed in the last few days amid worries of rising sectarian tensions. Five of the latest casualties were killed there. Amateur video footage posted on the internet showed many thousands gathering after prayers on a day dubbed “Friday of the descendants of Khalid”, a reference to a disciple of the prophet Muhammad who unified the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century and is buried in Homs. Nearby Hama, scene of a notorious 1982 massacre during the rule of Assad’s father Hafez, saw hundreds of thousands in central Assi Square. But there was no visible security presence in the city. Large protests were also reported for the first time from Aleppo, where one of Friday’s fatalities was killed. Syrian TV reported that a civilian had been killed by an “armed gang” – the regime’s habitual term for almost all protests. In Damascus there were signs of a more restrained approach, with security forces firing into the air or using tear gas to prevent trouble spreading. Activists reported checkpoints and a heavy security presence in Rukn ad-Deen, a largely Kurdish neighbourhood in the north-east of the city and the far eastern area of Qaboun where a mass funeral was held on Thursday. But protests went ahead as usual in Midan, a conservative district close to the old walled city. Live streaming and better-quality pictures have been emerging from Syria this week despite the government’s attempts to curb social media and temporarily block access to email services and Twitter. In Midan a video clip showed protesters clapping and shouting: “The people are free, Syria is free.” Footage from Aleppo showed a man drenched in blood being carried away. And in largely Kurdish Qamishli on the border with Turkey, teargas was fired to break up a protest. Expressions of solidarity with Homs – pinned down by troops and tanks on the streets – came at the end of a week when at least 40 people were killed there, some of them reportedly in sectarian clashes. But reports of sectarian strife have been hotly contested by activists and some analysts. “The protest movement does appear to be predominantly peaceful and non-sectarian but as state control weakens … people with other grievances may be taking advantage,” said a western diplomat in Damascus. That may be the case in Homs’ northern neighbourhoods where Alawites and Sunnis are segregated into adjacent neighbourhoods. Reports of revenge killings and violence on the part of “Shabiha” thugs allied with the government are multiplying. Some sources said state media reports of the targeting of a military bus near Rastan, north of Homs, on Thursday, killing two, may have been a case of a revenge attack. In Homs activists and residents reported a rise in defections, including eight military intelligence personnel who changed sides after a brutal crackdown. Activists said that several tank crews this week defected and joined protesters in the eastern town of Albu Kamal bordering Iraq’s tribal Sunni heartland. Footage from Aleppo showing unarmed army cadets marching with civilians was a striking novelty but it was difficult to judge its scale or wider significance. Syrian activists are warning protesters who imitate slogans from Egypt and Tunisia (where the army changed sides and helped overthrow both presidents) such as “the people and the army are one hand!” that they should not count on the military changing sides. “This is a very different situation here and we know that,” said one Damascus activist. Delegations from Brazil, India and Turkey were reported to be in the capital to meet Assad amid reports that he will soon deliver his fourth speech since the uprising began. It is understood he will offer to abrogate article eight of the Syrian constitution, which provides for a leading role for the ruling Ba’ath party. Assad is also rumoured to be considering calling presidential elections – overseen by delegations from abroad – several months after a new political parties law is put into effect. “This could be the only peaceful way out of the situation,” said one analyst. “But I am not sure the street will accept it at this stage.” In other developments, protesters destroyed a statue of Hafez al-Assad in Hasaka, prompting security forces to open fire, al-Arabiya TV reported. Hundreds more marched in the southern town of Suweida while demonstrations took place in the north-western province of Idlib. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 1,419 civilians and 352 members of the security forces have been killed since 15 March, while more than 1,300 people have been arrested. Nour Ali is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus Syria Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Turkey Iraq Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
It looks like Superman can do everything except pull in an audience. Experts have predicted a decline in interest for superhero movies, according to Deadline New York. Vasily Karayov, who analyzes the media industry for Susquehanna Financial Group, has said that we are approaching “the death of superheroes.” There has been an abundance of successful
Continue reading …