Orwell's 1984 in 2017: Newspeak or NewsCorp?

Rupert Murdoch's Orwellian NewsCorp

April 4, 2017 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Film / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz.

On April 4th several New York City arts organizations provided their audiences with the opportunity to watch the film, Ninteen Eighty-Four, based on George Orwell's book by the same name. Orwell published the book in 1949 - just a few short years after the fall of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime. The significance of the April 4th date is that that is the date first inscribed in the diary of Winston Smith, the central character and protagonist in the book / film.

Orwell [born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903] was a journalist and novelist who covered the Spanish Civil War in 1936 - 1937, during which the Communists fought the Nationalists for control of Spain. In 1938 Orwell wrote the book Homage to Catalonia about the war, and one of the notable quotes penned in that book was,

"One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

When World War II broke out, Orwell [who had tuberculosis] was declared "unfit for any kind of military service" by the British Medical Board. Nonetheless, Orwell spent two years [1941 - 1943] as a broadcaster for the BBC's Eastern Service. Around the time he left the BBC, Orwell began work on a book entitled Animal Farm which he finished and published around the end of the war in 1945. The book talked about how a democracy of pigs was eventually corrupted by those at the top, who fashioned the governance to serve themselves, while exploiting the other members of the farm. One of Orwell's notable quotes penned in that novel was,

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

Between the end of the war through to the end of his life [died 1950], Orwell kept on writing - finishing and publishing his last novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four- in 1949. In the film 1984, Newspeak is the party language and is characterized by a diminishing vocabulary which is designed to limit thoughts of opposition to the party and leadership, in order to maximize party influence and control.

NewsCorp Newspeak: Rupert Murdoch's NY Post & Fox 'News'

I've been watching Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp and 21st Century Fox media outlets for about a year now.

The Mayor is Innocent but Murdoch's NY Post 'Fake News' Headlines & Stories Fuel a Perception of Corruption

I started tracking them because I found the NY Post coverage of the allegations [the investigation was closed in March 2017] surrounding Mayor de Blasio's fundraising - to be propagandistic. For nearly a year the NY Post appeared to publish out-of-context, one-sided, significant distortions of the events surrounding the Mayor. The unrelenting NY Post propagandistic accounts appeared to fall well outside of the guiding principles of American journalism.

 

Given Murdoch's prior history of election meddling around the globe [see Murdoch corruption or Fox propaganda], one might easily surmise that Murdoch's propagandist attacks on Mayor de Blasio are an attempt to discredit the Mayor in advance of the 2017 election. Thus, since April 2016, I started watching Fox News and their team of commentators - several of whom appear to be unabashed propagandists.

 

Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Janine Pirro top the list - but in Murdoch's media empire, these top performing masters of media distortion, are far from alone.

 

Fox & Hannity's Newspeak: Appears to Tell their Audience to Believe What they Say Now, & to Forget Everything they Said Previously

Fox 'News' Hannity is a good example of a Newspeaker, because he appears to conveniently forget or omit things that don't fit into many of his narratives, including things he himself has previously said.

Hannity appears to believe in the old adage that one should,

"never let the facts get in the way of a good story".

In Orwell's 1984 novel / film the rulers teach the people to forget the past, so that the people will believe anything that is told to them. To help this forgetting process along, the rulers change the narratives or prior reports of people and nations in the past.

The simplest example of removing subjects' memories in the film - removing statements of truth so-to-speak - was getting the subjects to believe that 2 + 2 = 5. If the ruling class says it's 5, then it's five - not four.

On Fox 'News' Hannity we see some striking parallels of such flip flops on 'truths'. In 2010 Hannity was calling for hacker Julian Assange to be imprisoned. But in January 2017, Hannity appeared to mostly forget that Assange hacked and stole government information. In 2017 Hannity even provided a public platform for Assange, interviewing the allegedly treasonous hacker; and by some accounts, treating Assange who is wanted for alleged sex crimes in Sweden, with kid gloves.

What changed? Perhaps Rupert Murdoch's Fox News talking points on the Assange narrative, which in 2017 appears to be promoting the notion that Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians to win the 2016 presidential election. The Fox propaganda network doesn't seem to want to wait for the law enforcement officials to complete their work, before pronouncing Trump innocent.

Is this a modern day Orwellian 1984, where we are asked to forget Fox 'News' and Hannity's prior narrative, and believe what they are telling us now?

 

Mega Multi-Millionaire Hannity Appears to be a War Promoter

I've been watching Hannity shows for about a half year now, and I find his hypocrisy nearly legendary. Hannity portrays himself as a working class guy, while he rakes in about $30 million per year and owns multiple multi-million dollar mansions / homes and flies around the country on private jets.

 

Oliver North and Sean Hannity founded a charity, Freedom Alliance [Concerts], for the families of veterans of the Iraq War - a war which Hannity and his Boss Murdoch promoted using the 'fake news' that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction [WMD].

 

Murdoch's Fox 'News' and Hannity's ongoing rhetoric calling for a war in Iraq appeared to enhance Fox ratings and revenue, seeming to benefit Hannity, O'Reilly and other members of the Murdoch propaganda network, while destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of others [I'm including the Iraqi civilians too].

 

 

Hannity's Freedom Concerts: A Self Promotion Venue?

Hannity has a Charity for Iraq Veterans' Children - some Believe it's Self Serving

According to Conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel and other reports, I began to get the impression that Hannity's charity is as much a funding source to promote and pay for Sean Hannity public relations efforts, as it is a vehicle to help the children of Iraq War veterans.

 

In a March 19, 2010 post, Schlussel reports that she received the following information from a contact at Fox.

 

"Hannity's Freedom Concerts [fund his] use of a Gulfstream 5 plane to fly [him around], a fleet of either Cadillac or Lincoln SUVs ... and several suites at really expensive hotels ..."

 

Schlussel goes on to question how much of the funds raised, actually go to the children of Iraq veterans.

 

 

 

 

More than Half the Proceeds go to the Programs

An April 2, 2010 Mother Jones report notes that the non-profit Charity Navigator downgraded the Freedom Alliance [concerts] to two stars following a complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington[CREW]. The CREW complaint said that it was unclear how much money actually made it to veterans' children.

In a March 22, 2010 report by CNS News, a conservative site, reported Hannity's response to the above allegations as:

"The statement posted by the Freedom Alliance is 100% truthful and accurate. I have NOT taken a single penny from the Freedom Alliance or from concert sales EVER! I pay all the travel costs for my staff, family and me, and I have personally donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the FA and military charities."

In Charity Navigator's most recent rating dated March 1, 2017 for the fiscal year of 2015, the Freedom Alliance received a 78 rating and reports that about 57% of the charity proceeds go to the programs they deliver.

Orwell's message to us seems relevant to this conversation as in Homage to Catalonia, Orwell tells us that,

"One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

Click here to continue our exploration of Hannity & Murdoch's Fox 'News' propaganda using the warning signs lef to us in George Orwell's books, 1984 and Animal Farm.

We'll take a look into one of Murdoch's huge Australian tax breaks, one of Murdoch's fabulous Australian homes, Ted Koppel's claim that Murdoch's Fox 'News' Hannity is bad for America, how deregulation benefits the Murdochs versus the American working class, and how Murdoch's propaganda machine support for Trump - less than 100 days into the new Administration - already appears to be providing Murdoch and Fox 'News' with handsome returns.

Orwell's 1984 in 2017: Newspeak or NewsCorp?

Rupert Murdoch's Orwellian NewsCorp

April 4, 2017 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Film / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz. Continued.

Do Murdoch's Fox & & Super-Slick Salesman Hannity Control the Republican Party?

During the past nine months while watching Hannity I have found him to repeat himself countless times - literally. Since Trump took office Hannity starts, interjects and finishes many of his diatribes with an incessant stream of vituperative attacks on those who oppose the Murdoch regime.

I say Murdoch regime because Murdoch - not the Republican Party - appears to be in control. Here's a stream of phrases from the first 35 seconds [including the Hannity Show opening with music] of Hannity's opening monologue, headlined "Trump is on track and keeping his promises", dated April 10, 2017:

"alt radical left ... destroy trump media ... spreading of fake bizarre news conspiracy theories ... unprecedented democratic obstruction ... left extreme and ruthless opposition ..."

 

This is not the opener of a news show, or a talk show - but rather the opener of the Murdoch-controlled-party, propaganda machine.

And maybe one day Murdoch will make Sean Hannity the U.S. President, just like Murdoch appeared to make one of his former company employees, Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia [see more on this below].

 

Fox Newspeak: Hannity the Labeler

Why Ted Koppel Says Fox 'News' Hannity is "Bad for America"

There's not a single word of news value in Hannity's opening phrases referenced above.

But Fox TV and Hannity appear to mass-media-produce a lot of these dummy-proof, easy-to-use labels, that Hannity's audience can use to shut down an honest, interactive, exchange of ideas about social issues, government policy or government officials in America.

Hannity appears to be one of the most prolific mass producers of polarizing, conversation-destroying labels in America.

And that is why on the March 26, 2017 edition of CBS Sunday Morning, newsman Ted Koppel told Sean Hannity to his face, that he [Ted] thought that Sean Hannity,

"is bad for America"

Koppel went on to say that,

“... You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts ...”

Hannity appears to provide his audience with polarizing, us-vs-them, Nazi-like ideological labels. Hannity's information-exchange-blocking-labels enable his viewers to poison and shut down any honest conversations about the people running the government and the issues facing our democracy.

It seems that in almost every Hannity Monologue I watched, he broadcast an unending stream of polarizing labels on EVERYTHING as either bad / Liberals / Democrats or good / Conservative / Republicans. This includes the candidates running for office, what's going on in the nation and world, and the social and economic issues voters generally weigh in on. It seems a cheat sheet for those not doing their duty as Americans, by making sure they're adequately informed about the issues and candidates before they vote. And the labeling cheat sheet is communicated by a two-time college drop-out [Hannity from Adelphi & NYU], who doesn't appear to do any real research himself.

We do not live in a black and white world - one need only look around to know this is true. And life is also not so simple. Just think of a rainbow, an atom, a single strand of DNA, our solar system, our cities and our government. It's been my experience that generally speaking, those who paint the world in simplistic terms, are out to manipulate their audience.

De-Regulation Gives Murdochs & the Rich a Free Reign

By fostering an Us vs Them tribal mindset - Hannity and Murdoch in tandem with Fox 'News', the NY Post and other NewsCorp & 21st Century Fox propaganda outlets - appear to be dividing us, so that they can take control. The British Empire builders of the 18th and 19th centuries took control of foreign lands around the world by employing such a divide and conquer strategy.

Part of the strategy also seems to include opportunistically changing or deleting laws to empower and enrich themselves - at our public expense. Murdoch's Fox & Hannity appear to love deregulation, because then rich and powerful men - like them - can do whatever they want, unconstrained of giving due consideration to others affected by their actions.

In Orwell's 1984, the ruling group was in the process of morphing the language into a more 'pure' vocabulary. One where honest debate about things would eventually be eliminated, so nobody would even consider challenging the ruling group. In 2017 Fox 'News' and Hannity's labels appear to do the same thing by shutting down any honest debate about society's ills and what to do about them.

 

Fox Propagandists: Democracy & the Pigs on the Animal Farm

While I was growing up, I was mystified at how someone like Adolph Hitler came to have so much power. I wondered how this was possible, and contemplated why nobody appeared to seriously challenge him while he was rising to power.

While researching Rupert Murdoch's use of his media assets as propaganda tools this past year, I continually came across Adolph Hitler quotes and stories. I gradually began to realize how people like Hitler and Murdoch, appear to use a strategic mix of deception and intimidation, to accumulate an incredible amount of power. They appear to use deceit and fear to usurp the power of the people, which they then use to run the government apparatus.

It seems that once their pols or puppets are in control of power positions, both men were able to pull strings to have their political puppets change rules, regulations and laws - which ultimately appeared to empower themselves.

There's an insidiousness to Murdoch's manipulations that likely catches most people off guard. Just as in Orwell's 1984 where the Big Brother / ruling class keeps changing the 'facts', and in Animal Farm where everyone is equal until they are eventually told that some are more equal than others.

I suppose that in the beginning of a relationship with Murdoch, the pols and national parties believe that Murdoch is there to help them. But as striking examples in both Australia and Britain have shown, it appears to be a Faustian bargain at best. Over time, Murdoch-seduced pols and parties come to realize that they have lost control of their own destiny, and that they are now working for Murdoch - OR THEY ARE NOT WORKING AT ALL.

Kind of like what happened to former British Prime Minister David Cameron in June of 2016 and happened to the pig Snowball in Animal Farm.

 

Murdoch Propagandists Tell the Republican Party & the President What to do

Trump Doesn't have to Follow Murdoch's Orders, but without all of the 'free', undocumented, payment-in-kind media Support Provided by Murdoch's Fox 'News', Wall St Journal, NY Post, Barrons, National Geographic - The President would Probably Lose his Job

In the presidential primaries in 2016, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, publicly came to the realization that Fox News controlled the Republican Party Primary outcome - when he called Fox 'News' the Trump Network - during an interview on CNN.

Since Trump's Inauguration, Fox 'News' propagandist, such as Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, have vehemently attacked top ranking Republicans, giving them - as well as the President - COMMANDS on how to govern the nation. Hannity told the president to sack all of the FBI attorneys, which he did less than 24 hours later, and Pirro told the Republican Party that it must sack Paul Ryan, which was in sync'ed harmony with a Trump tweet.

Exactly who is in charge of the Republican Party? And just who is in charge of our nation? Trump or Fox 'News' NY Post WSJ Murdoch?

Throughout the book / film 1984, Big Brother represented the ruling group, which sought to maximize their control over the populace which Orwell called the Proletariat. Part of the package of total control, is the loss of initiative, invention, creativity and art. The more control, the less innovation. The less innovation, the more things deteriorate. Society stagnates into pure drudgery. People quit caring. And Orwell's dystopian novels characterized the world as such.

 

Does Murdoch's Near Media Monopoly in Australia Enable him to Propagandistically Elect Pols to do his Bidding?

Australia appears to be a Murdoch propaganda puppet regime. Former Murdoch employee, Tony Abbott, was the Australian Prime Minister from 2013 - 2015. Today Malcolm Turnbull, formerly Minister of Communications, is a Murdoch-supported successor to Tony Abbott.

Turnbull reportedly tried scrapping media regulatory ownership limits in Australia, which would ultimately favor the ruling Murdoch family's fortunes.

Currently Murdoch's organization holds a near monopoly share of Australian newspapers [60%], and has a controlling position in Australia's dominant satellite TV network, which may include some internet access / phone / cable assets.

Murdoch's propaganda machine is reported to have fought very hard to promote both candidates, while discrediting their opposition, during the elections. Not unlike what Hitler and Goebbels did to their opposition and for their candidates, in Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 1940's.

Both Australian Prime Ministers appear to have made efforts to implement regulatory changes favoring Murdoch that would provide him with greater media and political influence and control over Australian society - even though Murdoch is no longer even an Australian citizen. Is Australia still a democracy, if it's ruled by a puppet government, controlled by a foreign propagandist media mogul, from half way around the world?

The Murdochs' control of Australia seems to be portrayed in Orwell's book Animal Farm. In the book / film some of the pigs seem to do little work and reap most of the benefits, while the other pigs work very hard and seem to get only crumbs from the table.

Murdoch's Australian Propaganda Payout

Is Murdoch's Australian Propaganda Payout $4.5 Billion in Untaxed Business?

The Sydney Morning Herald, one of the most prominent newspapers NOT owned by Murdoch, reported in an April 6, 2015 story that,

"Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the US has siphoned off $4.5 billion of cash and shares from his Australian media businesses in the past two years, virtually tax free."

In Animal Farm, Orwell seems to capture the timeless essence of what greedy people - like the selfish-serving Murdoch's - will do to their communities - regardless of the time in history - in an infamous quote from the book:

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

Like the farm animals of Animal Farm, Fox viewers probably need their hard earned income to carry on [pay the rent, make car & insurance payments and pay utility bills]; while like the ruling pig class in Animal Farm, people like the Murdochs, Hannitys & O'Reillys, seem to reap all the benefits.

But Murdoch's Fox 'News' followers only pay higher tax rates on far less income than the Murdochs because they fail to wake up and take up action to correct what appear to be Murdoch Media inspired injustices.

 

In Animal Farm The Pigs Get All the Goodies

It's Like that in the Real World Today Too

In Animal Farm the ruling pigs got all the goodies. In real life the Fox TV multi-millionaire propagandists and the Fox TV / NY Post Billionaire Murdochs also seem to get all the goodies. Murdoch, Hannity and O'Reilly all have tens of million dollar incomes, ten(s)-of-millions of dollars of homes, yachts and planes, which allow them to travel the nation and world like royalty ... while their victimized and betrayed viewers, the barnyard animals of the Animal Farm, rot at home with all the work they have to do.

To the right is a photo of just one of many of Rupert Murdoch's modest working class homes. That's his son James shown with him, about three years ago. This is just one of the homes a well planned tax break can buy.

How does Murdoch get away with this? Because hundreds of millions of viewers consume and vote using the 'news' content of Murdoch's Australian newspapers, Fox TV 'News', Wall Street Journal, the NY Post, Barron's, National Geographic, Sky TV, London Times, the Sun [UK] and other media properties. And these unwitting victims appear to be allowing their votes to be stolen by Murdoch's organizational deceit, because they do not question the propagandist narratives that the plethora of Murdoch-controlled media outlets are feeding them.

Apparently Murdoch media audiences have few questions, little memory recall of historic parallels, scant or no context with which to process the 'news' distortions they appear to be fed regularly. And they apparently do not take the initiative to cross reference the Murdoch Fox TV and NY Post narratives with related accounts from non-Murdoch media. It strikes me that there are strong similarities to what happened to the Germans in Nazi Germany in the 1930's & 1940's - with what was depicted in Orwell's book 1984 - and with what's going on in America today.

Are Fox 'News' [Fox 5 & WWOR] and the NY Post audiences so gullible that they think that their tax class interests - and the elected officials they vote to represent them - are one and the same, as those selected and being sold to them, by the multi-billionaires like Murdoch and the mega-millionaires like Sean Hannity & Bill O'Reilly [click to see related story on Fox propagandists Sean Hannity & Bill O'Reilly]?

Penal Colony: Murdoch Built a Media Prison for Australian Minds

In Australia it appears that Murdoch, by helping his former employee Tony Abbott win the Australian Prime Minister position, actually greatly enriched himself [see $4.5 billion nearly tax-free above].

Currently Murdoch appears to be working with Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull to roll back that nation's media regulations [even more], so that Murdoch can further tighten his mental prison-like grip on the former British penal colony.

It would seem Murdoch has created a media prison which locks Australian minds into seeing the world through a Murdochian lens.

In Orwell's 1984, building a prison for people's minds is what Newspeak is all about. The graphic at right depicts Murdoch, sitting in the Architect's chair, from the movie Matrix. In that movie, robots or artificial intelligences, built a prison for the minds of all of humanity. But a few humans escaped believing the [propaganda] mirage - like Neo, Trinity & Morpheus. In Orwell's 1984, the main character, Winston Smith and his girlfriend Julia, also escape the deceit.

 

Orwell's 1984 Focuses on Erasing Historical Memories, like Hitler's 'Burn the Books' Effort

Murdoch's Fox 'News' & Hannity Appear to Encourage Audience Alzheimers

In the book 1984 the ruling class destroys and rewrites history, in an effort not dissimilar from Hitler's book burning, so that the people don't have historic references to oppose or question the ruling class. Without historical context and vocabulary, citizens can't cite or channel the facts, thoughts or spirit of past rebellions - like we're doing here, now.

America was born of rebellion, and our Founding Fathers would likely be called terrorists by the British throne, were the American Revolution going on today. We Americans are not anyone's subjects - and some of us never will be - like Orwell's Winston & Julia - because we are a free people - if only in our minds.

 

HANNITY 1984 - Hannity's Newspeak. Hannity appears to use polarizing labels that poison every conversation with an Us vs Them mentality. This past week in April 2017, Hannity's opener including the following labels in the first 35 seconds of his opening monologue.

"alt radical left ... destroy trump media ... spreading of fake bizarre news conspiracy theories ... unprecedented democratic obstruction ... left extreme and ruthless opposition ..."

In the book / film 1984 the ruling class brainwashes anyone who doesn't conform to the Big Brother's vocabulary - Newspeak as a way of viewing the world.

Murdoch's Fox 'News' propagandists frequently seem to browbeat politicians and their audience in an 1984 style manner [although physically less harsh, psychologically more sophisticated]. While watching and studying Murdoch's Fox TV propaganda, it oftentimes seemed like their commentators are talking down to us - by using a five-year-old's vocabulary and endlessly repeating their 'talking points' like we didn't hear them the first 100 times.

HANNITY 1984 - Hannity Historical Flip Flops / Is He Hoping Viewers Will Forget What He Previously Said? In 2010 Hannity said that Julian Assange, who hacked and published United States government documents, should be arrested.

On April 14, 2017 the CIA Director of the Trump Administration called Julian Assange a hostile, non-state, intel service.

In 2016 & 2017, Hannity appeared to promote Julian Assange as a hero, because Assange hacked and published Hillary Clinton's emails, and because Assange said Russia did not provide him with them.

Hannity's new narrative is similar to the story in 1984 where the ruling class has Winston change the 'historical accounts' of people from patriot to traitor and so on.

Donald Trump also has done a number of flip flops.

In early April 2017, Trump said he would not be an international interventionist.

Then - only two days later - he dropped $100 million of bombs on Syria. And days later another $16 million MOAB [Mother of All Bombs] in Afghanistan.

Commentators, from CNN and MSNBC and other media, wondered if Trump was trying to distract the media and American people away from a growing mountain of circumstantial evidence linking the Trump campaign to alleged Russian election interventionists.

 

Syrian Oil Fields Owned by Murdoch & Cheney

Will Murdoch Mouthpieces Hannity, O'Reilly, Pirro & Kurz come clean on Fox Boss Murdoch's Investment in Genie Energy Co & Syrian oil?

Hannity also appears to be promoting military action in Syria, just as he promoted the War in Iraq. Back in 2003, Rupert Murdoch reportedly heavily promoted the Iraqi War in the U.S., Britain and Australia. Ultimately all three nations, whose leaders Murdoch's propaganda machine appeared to help elect, went to war based on trumped up charges of Weapons of Mass Destruction [WMD].

Today we'd call WMD fake news. Murdoch Mouthpiece Hannity has yet to reveal that his boss, Ringleader Rupert Murdoch, owns a minority interest in an oilfield that the UN characterizes as illegal in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria.

During the Iraq War, Rupert Murdoch's companies appeared to rake in billions from the high ratings and robust newspaper sales that accompany war. It's not implausible that that may have been one of the reasons Murdoch so decisively advocated for the Iraq War on all three continents.

This time around Murdoch also has a minority interest in an energy company named Genie, that purchased what the UN characterizes as illegal oil rights, because they are located in the disputed territory of the Israeli-occupied section of Syria's Golan Heights.

Genie Energy is listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol GNE, and has a market capitalization of $178 million. It's Afek Oil division is responsible for commercializing the rights.

While the current size of this investment is fairly small for someone of Murdoch's net worth, his and former Vice President Cheney's involvement in the company seems significant. Given their past meddling in Middle Eastern wars / politics it seems reasonable to ask why they are taking the risk - if they're not trading on inside information about how America will conduct its political and miltary affairs in the Middle East over the next four years? See relationships below for more pieces of the puzzle.

 

Big Brother Rupert Murdoch, Sky News & British Phone Hacking

By dominating Australian [near monopoly share of media], British [dominant share] and American [largest share] media, Big Brother Rupert Murdoch, can be watched everywhere and from anywhere in most of the native English-speaking world. In Orwell's book, it's the government that's closely watching / monitoring all of its citizens.

 

In 2010, people working for the Murdoch Media Empire were caught illegally hacking British citizens phones on "a near industrial scale". It seems Rupert Murdoch found a way to privatize his Big Brother surveillance operations.

In 2017, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bahara, was fired by the Trump Administration. Bahara was probing Murdoch's Newscorp for possible phone record privacy violations here in America and possible mail and wire fraud related to covering up sexual harrassment payments [I think this is called hush money].

 

Like Big Brother in Orwell's 1984, Murdoch's company appears to follow Big Brother's example by publicly humiliating the people they catch, using their many media outlets.

 

Changes Since Orwell's 1984

Most Propaganda & Surveillance Operations are Privately Controlled

In April 1945 Hitler's propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, became the Nazi Fuhrer immediately after Hitler's suicide. Goebbels then followed Hitler's lead and killed his wife, his children and himself.

I find this to be one of the very interesting little foreshadowings of history, as the propagandists are now in charge, and the politicians work for them - not the other way around. This scenario appears to be unfolding before our very eyes.

 

Murdoch, Trump, Putin are all Connected

Is Fox Murdoch's Propaganda Payback a Trump Sized Chowdown?

One of the great underreported stories of the past year or so, is of all of the personal and business connections between Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump, some of which connect to wealthy Russians, friendly to Putin, with energy interests - like Roman Abramovich. Former Exxon Chairman & CEO, Rex Tillerson has Russian oil ties going back decades and was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin in 2012.

Not only did Murdoch and his former wife Wendi Deng live in Trump Tower for a number of years [roughly 2007 - 2010], but Murdoch then moved to a condominium he bought at 502 Park Avenue which is owned / managed by Donald Trump.

Furthermore, Rupert Murdoch is reported to have been a mentor to President Trump's son-in-law after Jared Kushner, after Kushner acquired the NY Observer in 2007 at the age of 25 for $10 million. It was around this time that Kushner and Ivanka were dating, broke up, and were famously put back together again in 2008 by Murdoch's former wife, Wendi Deng.

The graphic at right comes from bluecoat.nottingham.sch.uk, which performed a play based on Orwell's book Animal Farm.

Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump were photographed golfing together in Scotland in the summer of 2016 after Trump was the presumed Republican nominee.

Did the two men strike some kind of deal for a symbiotic alliance - where they win & the American public loses?

Did Murdoch promise the unrelenting support of his Fox TV, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, NY Post, Barron's media / propaganda machine to Trump?

 

If so, What was Trump Expected to Give to Murdoch?

Further FCC media deregulation?

Toothless prosecution and law enforcement?

Use of Military Action to legitimize Murdoch Ownership of an illegal Syrian Oilfield?

Huge billionaire / wealthy tax breaks?

If so, Trump appears far more on track to deliver to the Murdochs of the world, than on the promises made to the lower and middle class voters who help get him elected. But not to worry, as Murdoch's propaganda machine has the power to sway [tens of?] millions of these voters, by deceiving them with with the well-oiled, us-vs-them, Hannity-style propaganda pieces. Herr Goebbels would be proud.

Murdoch is a shrewd businessman who I suspect never gives away anything for nothing in return. His companies gave Donald Trump the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars [or more?] in unreported campaign finance contributions via attack ads packaged as Hannity and O'Reilly commentaries, infommercials packaged as Hannity, O'Reilly and Fox & Friends interviews & town halls, and plenty of Wall Street Journal and NY Post copy that wasn't very critical of Trump.

The following appears to be a Trump sized gift basket with Rupert Murdoch's name on it.

 

I. Fox Murdoch Propaganda Rewards - FCC DEREGULATION _ Consumer Privacy Rescinded

Murdoch was reportedly consulted by the Trump Administration on the appointment of the new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

 

The new FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, then proceeded to stop the Obama Administration digital privacy protections from being implemented only days before they were to go into effect.

 

Both Republican-controlled chambers of Congress approved the bill [House 215 - 205 and Senate 50 - 48] that DEREGULATED internet service providers, enabling them to sell consumers' internet browsing history and app storage history to buyers.

 

The vote was mostly along party lines with Republicans advocating to allow internet service companies to sell your internet search and app data without your permission, while the Democrats voted to preserve your privacy and stop the bill.

 

Given Murdoch's company's history of phone hacking in Britain & U.S. probe of invading journalists' privacy here - it's not hard to be convinced that Murdoch may have been more than your average supporter of this law.

 

Murdoch's company hacked phones in Britain and an American probe was in place under Preet Bahara investigating whether Murdoch's company violated journalists' privacy [see more below].

 

 

 

 

 

 

II. Fox Murdoch Propaganda Rewards - TRUMP FLIP FLOP _ Fires U.S. Attorney Bahara who was Probing Murdoch's Fox 'News'

On March 10, 2017, a day after Hannity aggressively urged the Trump Administration to fire all Obama Officials, Trump called for the resignation of all 46 U.S. attorneys. Preet Bahara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern Manhattan District refused to resign and was fired.

 

Bahara has a reputation for chasing corruption and was working on a case involving Murdoch's Fox News. According to NY Magazine,

"The [Bahara] probe, according to sources, is looking at a number of potential crimes, including whether Fox News executives broke laws by allegedly obtaining journalists’ phone records or committed mail and wire fraud by hiding financial settlements paid to women who accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Sources told me that prosecutors have been offering witnesses immunity to testify before a federal grand jury that’s already been impaneled."

 

Murdoch's Fox News claims it's an investigation that was politically motivated. A claim which Murdoch's Fox News and the NY Post oftentimes appear to ignore when they are attacking those who refuse to bend the rules to Murdoch's will - like NYC Mayor de Blasio.

 

III. Fox Murdoch Propaganda Rewards - TRUMP FLIP FLOP _ Bombing Syria to Legitimiaze Murdoch & Cheney Oil Fields?

As noted above Fox Murdoch & Dick Cheney are part owners of the oil drilling rights to what the UN describes as Israel's illegal occupation of the Golan Heights along the Syrian border.

Trump did a complete about-face in the course of two days on: 1) 'putting America first' [he said no wars, spend the money here] and 2) regarding no / limited foreign intervention. And then Trump fired 59 Tomahawk missiles worth about $100 million into Syria, the efficacy of which appears to be under debate.

CNN's Rachel Madow questioned whether Trump did it to distract Americans from the allegation that he and Russia colluded to hack the U.S. election.

This would seem to serve Vladimir Putin's interest as well, as it seems the 59 missiles fired did little real damage to anything Russian and it cost the American taxpayer [actually our children because they are doing this with borrowed funds] for the cost of $100 million dollars.

 

Was the Syrian Missile Strike a Con Job?

Scenario I. Take it All.

Could the 'ISIS Threat' be used like Weapons of Mass Destruction [WMD] as a Pretext for War?

Will Trump use American military power to lay claim to Syrian oil fields for western oil companies like Rupert Murdoch's & Dick Cheney's Genie Energy?

This playbook looks strikingly familiar to the one employed a decade ago, by oilman and former VP Dick Cheney, who appeared to orchestrate a U.S. oil company drilling rights grab during the George W. Bush Administration.

It's a clever strategy because Murdoch's Fox 'News', WSJ, NY Post, the London Times, Sky News, the Sun, The Australian and all of his other media assets can be used to publicly hype the ISIS threat. Similar in some respects, to the way Murdoch's NY Post publicly hyped allegations and innuendo surrounding Mayor de Blasio's fundraising efforts before the courts weighed in and judged him to be INNOCENT of wrongdoing. Murdoch's propaganda machine in Australia, Britain and America all beat the drums for a war in Iraq over a decade ago - on trumped up charges that today we'd call 'fake news'.

Hyping the ISIS threat is the perfect Murdochian frame up, because nobody will ask ISIS for their side of the story - and even if someone does - who will believe them?

There is a wrinkle. And that is that Donald Trump has a growing credibility problem too. A March 22, 2017 Quinnipiac poll had 60% of the electorate believing that Trump is NOT honest, 66% say he is NOT level headed and 57% say he does NOT care about the average American. All of these were up from a poll they had taken only two weeks earlier.

The Trump presidency has also threatened to withdraw funding from the UN, thus weakening it. This defunding of the UN would also help Fox's Rupert Murdoch and former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's investment because Genie Energy's license was granted by Israel and is in an area considered by the UN to be illegally occupied by Israel.

 

Scenario II. Broker a Deal.

Exxon's Rex Tillerson Expanded Exxon's Holdings in Russia, so Exxon now Owns More in Russia than in America

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin in 2012, and seems the perfect go-between for such an option.

Under Tillerson Exxon expanded its holdings in Russia, so that it now has more there than in the U.S. Perhaps Exxon's Russian ties were why the Obama Administration went soft on Russia's takeover of the Crimea. Because through the Crimea and Black Sea, Russia and Exxon can ship oil through the Mediterranean to the western hemisphere.

Are Trump and Putin staging this 'getting tough' act with each other to deflect attention away from their bromance & possible election hacking collusion? Is it possible that behind the scenes they're collaborating again - while on the world stage they pretend to be angry with one another? And in the last act of this scenario, will Rex Tillerson broker a deal and will Trump and Putin hail him as a Kissinger - by structuring a deal for America and Russia to collaborate to defeat ISIS, and carve up the stolen Syrian oil for their wealthy friends?

Hitler and Stalin, around the start of WWII, struck a deal to split control of parts of Eastern Europe. This behind-the-scenes dealing was captured in Orwell's Animal Farm, where the top brass pigs started selling out their fellow barnyard citizens, by cutting secret deals with the humans, so they could gorge themselves on food and booze.

 

Is Trump Stealing from America's Children, by Borrowing to Pay to use American Military Might, to Possibly lay Claim to Syrian oil Rights for Murdoch, his Most Important Supporter?

Lastly, given America is borrowing to fund our DEFENSE Department [seems more like OFFENSE these days - even Sean Hannity seems to understand that], are they planning to steal from America's children to pay for another oil war, as was done in Iraq?

I think it's also important to note that there's believed to be a huge oil reserve in the South China Sea, which may be what all the Trump & Tillerson urgency about North Korea is really about ... an excuse to move our military into place for an oil sized confrontation with the Chinese.

An old international reporter's axiom is,

"If you want to know what's really going on in global politics - follow the oil, money, power & influence. Everything else is propaganda."

 

IV. Fox Murdoch Propaganda Rewards - Possible $5.6 Billion Tax Windfall for Murdoch Propaganda Heirs?

How about inheritance tax changes? Murdoch is 86 years old, and while in good health [his mother lived to 103], he has a net worth of about $14 billion, which I assume he wants to transfer in an inheritance to the next generation of Murdochs.

Is Trump's Desire to Abolish the Inheritance Tax a Murdoch Multi-Billion Dollar Tax Grab? Given how he seems to have found a way out of paying corporate taxes in Australia, why wouldn't he try the same here?

 

One of Trump's proposals was to do away with the inheritance tax which would benefit both Trump's and Murdoch's heirs. Murdoch's net worth is valued at $14 billion. Even if he were taxed at the top marginal inheritance tax rate of 40%, that would still leave his children $8.4 BILLION. That means he would be leaving his children with 152,727 years of work-free income at the median American income of $55,000. And this assumes a ZERO return on investment.

 

How Many Years of Median Income Americans Paying Taxes to Compensate for a Trump-to-Murdoch Inheritance Tax Gift? Conversely, the United States government would have to collect a year of taxes from 407,000 median income Americans to make up the loss of tax revenue that transferring Rupert Murdoch's wealth untaxed to his already rich children, who have done nothing to earn it.

 

Just for reference, Forbes notes that there were about 122 million taxpayers in America in 2010.

Trump is also talking about a Repatriation Tax holiday, which could work in Murdoch's favor and possibly not create a single new job.

 

Trump: Drain the Swamp or Create a Cesspool?

V. Similarities with The Pigs at the Top in the film Animal Farm

A year ago Vladimir Putin was reported by US Magazine to be dating Murdoch's ex-wife Wendi Deng. Murdoch's ex-wife Deng says they are just friends and denies dating him, although she's been photographed within the past year hanging around with billionaire Russian Oligarchs, like Roman Abramovich, who made his money by taking control of a lot of Russia's oil and reportedly has been friendly with Putin since Yeltsin was in office.

In fact on two occasions, one in August [Croatia] and the other in September [U.S. Open], Wendi Deng and her Russian friends met up with Ivanka Trump. Is it possible that Putin was taking classes from Deng regarding Murdoch's propaganda dark arts? If so, he appears to be a quick study.

Deng is also reportedly very good friends with Ivanka Trump, having reportedly helped her and husband Jared Kushner through a rough patch around 2008, just prior to their marriage in 2009. At the time Murdoch and Deng were living in Trump Tower, while they waited for work to be done on their new home, which is located in a building called Trump Park Avenue. As I understand things, that's where Murdoch lives today. Ivanka was also reported to be a trustee for Deng's & Murdoch's kids.

Murdoch also became friendly with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, who was running the NY Observer newspaper at the time. At least one report says Kushner became a Murdoch protege. Kushner now appears to be in a battle with Steve Bannon for influence in the Trump White House.

The Board of Directors of Murdoch's NewsCorp included [and possibly still includes] Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Transportation Secretary [her family is very wealthy from the shipping business]. Kusher is also reportedly friendly with Paul Ryan, the House Majority Leader, so Murdoch's reach into the Trump Administration and Republican hierarchy is deep.

And there's at least one former Murdoch employee working at the National Security Administration [NSA]. During the British phone hacking scandal, a number of high ranking law enforcement officials resigned under pressure as it appeared they were working in Murdoch's interest not carrying out the responsibities of their job.

 

Unlimited Access by an Undocumented Campaign Donor?

In a March 2016 episode of Fox and Friends, Geraldo Rivera said that Sean Hannity speaks to President Trump several times daily. And earlier this year [2017] a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Rupert Murdoch talks to Trump several times each week.

Should any non-family-member have this kind of undocumented, unlimited access to the President of the United States?

It's almost like having the power to escape reporting your [media-in-kind] campaign contributions for attack ads and infommercials for your political picks.

Murdoch also has successfully seeded many of his loyalists throughout the governments of Australia and Britain, which he appears to control and heavily influence, respectively. This sort of government infiltration and influence lead to dismissals or resignations for alleged corruption of duty by Murdoch aligned government officials during the British phone hacking scandal.

 

Oil Like Blood is 'Thicker than Water'

As mentioned Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State, was given the Russian Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin in 2012. Tillerson was formerly the head of Exxon Oil and according to a Bloomberg March 3, 2015 story, Exxon now has far more holdings in Russia than it does in the U.S. So exactly who does mega-millionaire Rex Tillerson really represent? The American people or his former company, which one could call the new Exxon of Russia?

It's worth mentioning that Russia recently surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer. The U.S. is number three. And Paul Manafort, Trump's former Campaign Manager, is reported to have close ties to wealthy Russians connected to Putin.

What would Orwell say about all of this?

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

And Thomas Jefferson would say,

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be."

Wake up America. The Orwellian alarm clock went off 33 years ago.

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