From Newsgroup: alt.music.pink-floyd

"With the $1.6 billion Dominion lawsuit threatening to hobble Fox News, the ink on his
divorce to Jerry Hall still wet, and his broken engagement to Ann Lesley Smith even
fresher, it’s been a chaotic 12 months for the 92-year-old conservative media baron. As
Fox and family insiders tell it, this could just be the beginning.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/rupert-murdoch-cover-story

[Excerpts]

"While Fox News hosts railed against lockdowns and pushed dubious treatments like
hydroxychloroquine, Murdoch followed the science. “He was scared for himself and was very
careful,” a person who spoke to Murdoch at the time recalled. According to sources,
Murdoch and Hall quarantined in Bel Air without any staff for months. Hall bought robot
vacuums to clean the floors, baked sourdough bread, and cooked simple meals of roast
chicken, leg of lamb, and vegetarian pasta. During the day, Murdoch watched the stock
market and took Zoom calls while Hall took online courses in UC Davis’s winemaking
program. (Hall told friends Murdoch wanted her to do it so he could write off $3 million
of vineyard expenses as long as she worked 500 hours a year on winemaking.) At night, she
and Murdoch played chess, backgammon, and gin rummy. She usually won, she told friends,
except when they played Liar’s Dice. “He’s a good liar!” she told them. "

"After interviewing dozens of people for this story, I was struck by how sad all the
Murdochs seem. Some Murdoch profiles liken his late career arc to Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Murdoch as the aging monarch confronting his mortality. I think the tale of King Midas is
more accurate. Murdoch built a $17 billion fortune out of a small newspaper company he
inherited from his father. The only thing that mattered was profit. But amassing that
wealth required Murdoch to destroy virtually anything he touched: the environment, women’s
rights, the Republican Party, truth, decency—even his own family."

"At the age of 91, Murdoch blew up his fourth marriage. Hall was waiting for Murdoch to
meet her at their Oxfordshire estate last June when she checked her phone. “Jerry, sadly
I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage,” Murdoch’s email began, according to a
screenshot I read. “We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do…My New
York lawyer will be contacting yours immediately.” Hall told friends she was blindsided.
“Rupert and I never fought,” she told people. There had been disagreements over his
antiabortion views and some friction with the kids over Hall’s rules about masking and
testing before they saw Murdoch, according to sources. But Hall never felt Murdoch treated
these as major issues. Hall and Murdoch finalized their divorce two months later. (One of
the terms of the settlement was that Hall couldn’t give story ideas to the writers on
Succession.) Hall told friends she had to move everything out of the Bel Air estate within
30 days and show receipts to prove items belonged to her. Security guards watched as her
children helped her pack. When she settled into the Oxfordshire home she received in the
divorce, she discovered surveillance cameras were still sending footage back to Fox
headquarters. Mick Jagger sent his security consultant to disconnect them. "

Swill
--
From Bill Maher: So Fox News, they put out a statement after the settlement was reached.
They said, "This settlement reflects the continuing commitment of Fox News
to the highest journalistic standards."
But I got to say, you know, which news outlets have, I think, even higher journalistic standards?
The ones who don’t have to pay three quarters of a billion dollars for being a fucking liar."

Heroyam slava! Glory to the Heroes!

Sláva Ukrajíni! Glory to Ukraine! Putin is a condom!

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