Douglas Caddy

The Shrinking of Lyndon Johnson He wasn’t the arm-twisting, indomitable genius of Robert Caro’s imagination The New Republic By Clay Risen http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116404/lbjs-civil-rights-act-arm-twisting-was-myth

From the article: “But while I recognize that “All the Way” is a work of fiction, not history, I worry that many of the thousands of people who attend the play won’t see it that way — that they will leave the theater believing that Johnson did indeed weaken the Civil Rights Act’s voting provisions, or that Stokely Carmichael, and not John Lewis, was the voice of his generation circa 1964.” http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/a-play-about-l-b-j-veers-wildly-from-history/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Rebekah Brooks denies covering up hacking as News International chief Court hears Brooks was told by police in 2006 that News of the World hacking extended beyond the activities of its royal editor B y Lisa O'Carroll theguardian.com, Wednesday 5 March 2014 08.36 EST Rebekah Brooks has denied "covering up" the extent of phone hacking at the News of the World when she became chief executive of News International in 2009. Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said she must have known that hacking at the now-defunct tabloid had extended beyond the activities of the royal editor who had been sentenced for the crime in 2007 because she had received a private briefing from the police in September 2006 in which she learned that there were between 100 and 110 victims. Brooks said it was true that she had been told by DCI Keith Surtees that there had been 100 to 110 victims and that she had passed that back to the company. She was repeatedly asked if the company had made this information public in any statements but did not answer directly. "They did not mention these other hacking victims?" said Edis. Brooks replied "No, what they said was they needed between five and 10 [victims]", before being interrupted by Edis who said: "I'm talking about what News International said. The fact of the matter is you knew that from the time of speaking to DCI Surtees, that the whole truth had not emerged during the trial." Brooks repeated what she had been told by DCI Surtees about there being 100 to 110 victims. She added: "I do not think I saw it like that." Brooks was told by Surtees that among the victims were former culture secretary Tessa Jowell and Tracy Temple, a woman who was said to have an affair with Lord Prescott in 2006, the jury heard. Earlier the trial heard that Brooks briefed the News of the World lawyer Tom Crone about the briefing when she returned from it. She said she had been told she was also a victim. Brooks said she believed that the police told her they had no evidence that anyone else at the NoW was involved in hacking of her phone. "My view was, rightly or wrongly, because I imagine Mr Mulcaire was accessing my phone for personal [information]. I could not see how the News of the World would have a story about my personal life." Edis put it to Brooks that the meeting with Surtees was as much an intelligence-gathering operation for the company as a briefing about the hacking of her personal phone. "It's extremely important that you should find out, in the interests of News International, what the police were doing?" he said. Brooks responded: "Yes." Jurors have heard Brooks was also asked to consider becoming a prosecution witness but after discussion with the then News International chief executive Les Hinton it was decided that would not be the right course of action and no formal complaint was made. Brooks told jurors that she decided not to become a prosecution witness because it would "odd for the editor of the Sun to be a prosecution witness against a sister newspaper". Edis put it to her: "In fact you knew that the first police inquiry proved to be rather superficial." He added it was an "artificial process" because it left the public with the impression the activity was limited to hacking of the royal household and five other "lead victims" and did not extend to the 110 potential victims. The court heard that News International described Goodman as a "rogue exception" at the paper and held that stance between 2007 and 2009, when Brooks was promoted to chief executive. Brooks said that the "rogue reporter" position was not hers. "It was not my line, but it was News International's line which I inherited," she added. She said she was aware that Goodman had threatened to name names and was involved in an appeal against his dismissal in 2007. "Did you believe that News International's behaviour between 2007 and 2009 was acceptable?" Edis asked. "At the time, yes, I did," Brooks said. "I had no reason to believe otherwise." Edis then put it to her: "You carried on with the cover-up when you became chief executive." Brooks responded: "No." Earlier the jury heard that Brooks offered the News of the World's former royal editor a job after he was released from prison for phone hacking. Brooks told jurors she made the offer to Goodman over lunch at the RAC Club in London's Pall Mall following several conversations with Hinton. David Spens QC, for Goodman, put it to Brooks "You were asked to buy him off on behalf of the company." Brooks responded: "I was asked to offer him a job." When he asked whether it was a bid to get to "shut up", she said the company wanted to avoid an "embarrassing" employment tribunal. Brooks offered Goodman two jobs: a six-month contract to work on a royal supplement to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana; and an eight-month training contract. He rejected both offers after settling with the company, the court heard. Brooks says she learned about this later from Hinton who did not disclose details because the deal was "confidential". The trial continues.

In 1984 Billie Sol Estes sought a grant of immunity from the U.S. Department of Justice in order that he could disclose the circumstances surrounding a number of crimes of which he had knowledge, including a series of murders. Among other crimes he was willing to disclose were the circumstances surrounding the payment of a $500,000 bribe that he alleged he arranged to be made to Supreme Court Justice Thomas Clark. While the Justice Department over a period of months showed good faith in its consideration of giving a grant of immunity to Billie Sol Estes, the effort collapsed when Billie Sol suddenly had a change of heart and refused to cooperate or take any further action in the matter for reasons known only to himself. U.S. Marshal Clint Peoples later privately expressed an opinion as to why he thought this had happened. Earlier in 1984, Billie Sol had testified before the grand jury in Robertson County, Texas, as to the 1961 murder of U.S. Department of Agriculture employee Henry Marshall. This occurred after John C. Paschall, District/County Attorney for Robertson County, wrote a letter to Estes’ attorneys on March 20, 1984, in which he stated, “This letter is to confirm our previous oral agreement regarding transactional immunity for your client, Billie Sol Estes. As the elected County Attorney, with felony jurisdiction, for Robertson County, Texas, I agree that Mr. Estes will not be criminally prosecuted regarding any of the transactions, occurrences, events, or alleged criminal offenses about which he might testify directly or indirectly before the Robertson County grand jury or any other statements given orally or in writing to any person concerning the above matters.” Those interested in reading further about this case are directed to a detailed article “The Killing of Henry Marshall” by Bill Adler published in The Texas Observer of November 7, 1986.

The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It By John Dean http://www.amazon.com/The-Nixon-Defense-What-Knew/dp/0670025364/

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/obamas-dumbest-plan-yet/

Rebekah Brooks: NI's 'rogue reporter' defence shaky after 2009 revelations Former News International chief tells phone-hacking trial that company's corporate line came from NoW editor Colin Myler By Lisa O'Carroll theguardian.com, Monday 3 March 2014 08.04 EST Rebekah Brooks knew that News International's position in 2009 that phone hacking at the News of World was down to a "rogue reporter" was "shaky" after she was shown documents that eavesdropping on voicemails went beyond the royal household, the Old Bailey has heard. She told the phone-hacking trial that the corporate position that the unlawful interception was down to a "rogue" reporter on the paper had "come from the News of the World editor Colin Myler". The court heard that the Guardian article in July 2009 claimed News International had agreed a £1m out-of-court settlement with Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, whose phone had been hacked. Within two weeks documents had emerged publicly that showed the News of the World had transcripts of 35 of Taylor's messages attached to an internal email from a reporter Ross Hindley marked "For Neville". Brooks said she was shown this email before it emerged in public sometime in July 2009. She said she showed that this showed "the sort of emphaticness of the company's statement that nobody else knew that Glenn Mulcaire was going was looking shaky after that because this was an email from someone at the News of the World". Her defence counsel, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, put it to her that the article reported that private investigator Mulcaire had hacked thousands of phones and that the company had agreed the deal with Taylor "to prevent details being made public". Asked by Laidlaw if she now, in 2014, believed that Guardian article "to be true", Brooks responded: "Yes." Asked if at the time she believed the article to be true, Brooks responded: "No I didn't." Brooks said she did not think that the article supported her belief, now and then, that hacking did not took place during her editorship of the News of the World in 2000 and 2003. She told the court she had received a briefing from police in 2006 following the arrest of Mulcaire that he had hacked between 100 and 110 people. She said that nothing between the sentencing of Mulcaire and the paper's royal editor Clive Goodman in 2006 and the Guardian article in 2009 suggested anything different. Goodman and Mulcaire were sentenced in January 2007; News International made a financial settlement with the paper's royal editor later that year and the matter of hacking was considered closed, the court heard. Brooks said: "I was told they had settled with Clive but from May or June 2007 the entire subject almost went without any conversation." Brooks was editor of the Sun in July 2009 when the Guardian article was published but was told she was to be promoted to chief executive in September that year. She said she seemed to remember the article had suggested 4,000 people had been hacked, but she did not believe this to be true when she read it in 2009. This was because she had received a briefing from police following Goodman's arrest suggesting the number of victims was a fraction of that when she met DCI Keith Surtees in 2006. "He had said between 100 and 110 victims. Nothing since that moment in 2006 and the public statement [of rogue reporter], the Press Complaints Commission [investigation], the sentencing; nothing had shown to me that this was not the case," said Brooks. The court heard of a second settlement with PR Max Clifford. He had been banned from dealing with the Sun and the News of the World by News International's chief executive Les Hinton in 2005, Brooks said, and the company was keen to bring him back into the fold. "News of the World, at the time, had paid Max Clifford millions and millions with the history of 20-years plus," she said. At the time she was being asked by the News of the World lawyer Tom Crone to meet Clifford to strike a deal. She said this was separate to any attempt by Clifford, who was also hacked by News of the World, to reach a settlement in respect of hacking. The trial continues.

Luke A. Nichter reports today on Facebook that: Big changes from the publisher this week: 1. New pub date: July 29, 2014 2. New length: 512 pgs., then 608, now closer to 800 pgs. 3. New dust jacket: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544274156

Leveson inquiry: The spy, the judge and the ‘cover-up’ Former intelligence officer alleges inquiry buried evidence of high-level corruption between MPs, press and police By Tom Harper Investigations Reporter The Independent Sunday 02 March 2014 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/leveson-inquiry-the-spy-the-judge-and-the-coverup-9162849.html

Ole Dammegard on The Death Squad Network behind the JFK Assassination Red Ice Creations http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2014/02/RIR-140226.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y4lnheyvZPw

Rebekah Brooks 'decided not to help phone-hacking inquiry in 2006' Former News of the World editor tells phone-hacking trial 'complexities on the corporate level' stopped her from being witness By Nick Davies The Guardian, Wednesday 26 February 2014 14.44 EST Rebekah Brooks turned down a police request to help the original 2006 prosecution of phone hacking at the News of the World because of "complexities on the corporate level", an Old Bailey jury heard Wednesday. Giving evidence for the fifth day in the phone-hacking trial, Brooks described the "startling" sequence of events after she heard on 8 August 2006 that police had arrested Clive Goodman and raided the NoW's office. She had discussed the case with the chairman, Les Hinton, she said: "I think initially there was certainly concern about the investigation and what it would uncover and where it was going. It was all quite an anxious situation." Soon, she said, she had discovered that police had also arrested a private detective, Glenn Mulcaire, and that Mulcaire had worked for the NoW during her editorship between May 2000 and January 2003. When police contacted her to tell her that Mulcaire had hacked her phone, she agreed to meet a detective, Keith Surtees, in the RAC Club. "I had a natural curiosity to find out what had happened to my own phone but of course, from a corporate point of view, I also wanted to find out where the police were in the investigation." The result, the court heard, was that Brooks reported back to Les Hinton and Andy Coulson that police had identified more than a hundred victims of Mulcaire; believed the NoW had paid him £1m for his work; and had noticed that routinely he would speak to the paper immediately before and after accessing a target's voicemail. She said the detective had asked if she would become a witness for the prosecution of Goodman and Mulcaire because she had been hacked with unusual frequency and consistency compared to other victims. Brooks had consulted Hinton and others about this. "We all agreed it would not be the right thing to do for me to make a formal complaint and go on to be a prosecution witness with the complexities that would cause on the corporate level since the private detective had worked for the News of the World." She recalled that Goodman and Mulcaire had been jailed in January 2007 and that Coulson had resigned as editor of the NoW "although there was never any suggestion that he knew what these two people had been doing". She went on to summarise public statements made by Hinton and by the new editor of the NoW, Colin Myler, to the effect that Goodman had acted alone in hacking phones and was "a rogue exception" on the paper. Brooks then subsequently offered a job to the paper's royal editor, Goodman, even though he had been convicted of crime, because News International wanted to avoid what Hinton told her was "potential publicity nightmare" if Goodman went public with hacking allegations he was making against senior NoW journalists, she said. Brooks told the court that she had had no reason to believe him. When Goodman was released from prison in March 2007, she said, he had been angry because he had been sacked and was planning to appeal to an employment tribunal and to identify others at the paper who, he alleged, had been involved in hacking. "It was pretty much everybody who had a senior role at the News of the World. He certainly named the editor, deputy editor, managing editor and executives on the news desk." But she said : "I don't think anybody – me included – thought that the allegations Clive was making had any basis. It was as a result of being turned down on his challenge for dismissal." After Hinton had warned of a "potential publicity nightmare" at any employment tribunal and so she had arranged to have lunch with Goodman – again at the RAC Club – where she had offered him a job at the Sun. The jury have been told that separately Brooks wrote to the Press Complaints Commission to tell them that any journalist who broke the law would face instant dismissal. She told the jury that Goodman had turned down her offer and that she believed he had settled his dispute with News International. Brooks denies conspiring to intercept voicemail. The trial continues.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/21/zapruder-film-analysis-still-disputed/3672031/

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/02/peter-dale-scott/the-deep-state/ Article by Peter Dale Scott on The Deep State.

Rebekah Brooks 'unaware of Milly Dowler hacking until nine years later' Ex-editor says she never approved phone hacking while at the helm of the paper, and did not know at that time it was illegal Share 11 Email · By Lisa O'Carroll · · theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 February 2014 08.05 EST http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/25/rebekah-brooks-milly-dowler-phone-hacking-trial Rebekah Brooks was not aware that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked until nine years after the event, the Old Bailey has heard. The former News of the World editor also told the court she did not know phone hacking was illegal until 2006 and conceded that she might have sanctioned it had their been justification, such as an investigation into paedophiles. However, she said this was a "hypothetical" and she never did sanction any voicemail hacking. Brooks said she was not aware that phone hacking was illegal when she was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003. She said that, while editor, she was not aware of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which outlawed hacking in 2000 after a security flaw was exposed in the press. The first she became aware of the act was in 2006, she said, the year Mulcaire and the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman were arrested. She said she did not sanction hacking while she was editor, but added she might have done so if confronted with a hypothetical scenario such as an investigation into paedophiles where she "may" have authorised it. Brooks cited a journalist on another newspaper, which she did not name, who had written at the time how he had hacked someone's phone to prove something about an arms dealer. She told the court that she first knew that it was possible to access other people's voicemail because of a factory default setting in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Her counsel, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, asked her if she "had ever sanctioned someone to access a voicemail as a technique," and she replied "No". Brooks said there may have been circumstances where hacking might have been justifiable, but she would never have thought that was the case. "I did not think it would have been a particular useful thing to do," she added. She said she would have thought hacking would have been a "serious" breach of privacy and she would not have condoned it. Brooks told the court she did not know anyone on the NoW had tasked Glenn Mulcaire to hack the murdered schoolgirl's phone in April 2002, weeks after she had gone missing. Laidlaw asked her if she had anything to do with the tasking of Mulcaire. "No, I didn't," she told the jury. She responded "No" when asked if she was told about it afterwards in 2002. Asked when she first heard that Dowler's phone had been hacked she said: "The moment when I first learned the News of the World had been responsible for accessing her voicemail was 4 July 2011 in the afternoon." That was the day the Guardian broke the story online, triggering a wave of revulsion around the country. Brooks told the court that she felt "shock, horror" when she learned of the hacking. She said it was "abhorrent" to hear that someone had deleted her voicemails and given her parents Bob and Milly Dowler "false hope" that she was still alive. Brooks said "we now know" that the claim that Dowler's voicemails were deleted was not true, but added: "The essential fact that somebody from the News of the World asked someone to do that – my reaction would have been the same." She told the court she had "no recollection of having any discussion" about the Milly Dowler story that appeared in the NoW on 12 April 2002 which mentioned her voicemails. Brooks was on holiday with her then husband Ross Kemp in Dubai at the time and said she would have remembered if a big story concerning Dowler was being prepared by her deputy Andy Coulson who was at the helm at the time. "I think I would remember if I had a call, if Andy had said to me 'we've found Milly Dowler'," she told the jury. She said she had "didn't have any knowledge" that the News of the World had told Surrey police that they had accessed the schoolgirl's voicemail. The jury has heard that Brooks had an on-off affair with Coulson but she said at the time they were not having a relationship. Asked how her relationship was with Kemp at the time, she responded: "We were in a good place." Of Coulson, she said: "Andy was always always a close friend." Questioned if there was any physical intimacy, she shook her head and replied "No". Earlier in the trial the prosecution had said it could be inferred that she would have discussed the Dowler story because of their relationship, which was exposed after the police found a draft love letter on her computer when her home was searched after her arrest. The jury had previously also heard testimony from a member of the public, William Hennessy, who said he met Brooks in Dubai and claimed to have heard her saying she had to take a call about the "missing Surrey schoolgirl". Brooks said she did not recall that. "I don't remember meeting him or saying that but it is possible I did," she said. The court heard that the Dowler story was listed as the second item on the NoW's newslist the week she went missing, but although there were concerns that she may have been victim of a predatory paedophile, she was confident it was not a "Sarah's Law" scenario by the time she went to Dubai. She told the jury she often had to curtail or cancel holidays when there was a big story and recalled doing so when the two schoolgirls were murdered in Soham.

Federal Reserve System report dealing with the Watergate burglary http://www.federalreserve.gov/oig/files/special_inquiry_final_report_3_30_12.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/world/europe/with-presidents-departure-ukraine-looks-toward-a-murky-future.html?hpw&rref=world

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/anatomy-of-the-deep-state/?fb_action_ids=285510408267366&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.Uwj8jyzeFdk.like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B529352443847785%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%22.Uwj8jyzeFdk.like%22%5D

Retired NYPD Detective James Rothstein, who as a young man was a sailor onboard the ship Essex in the Bay of Pigs, has sent me an email stating: “I listened to the tape, he was right. His story definitely sounds like a guy who knew what he was doing. His style of working the system was done in much the same way I worked.” http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=20008

Did the Mafia really manage JFK's assassination? May 30, 1999|By George Anastasia | By George Anastasia,Special to the Balimore Sun "Bound by Honor, A Mafioso's Story," by Bill Bonanno. St. Martin's. 279 pages. $24.95. Mafia buffs and Kennedy conspiracy theorists should be lining up for the latest "inside" story on the American mob, Bill Bonanno's intriguing, entertaining and factually titillating memoir "Bound by Honor." This is not a mob tell-all, but rather a treatise on the demise of the American Mafia told from the perspective of someone, a mobster and the son of a major Mafia don, who witnessed and experienced it firsthand. Focusing primarily on the 1960s and the mob war that ripped his father's crime family apart, Bonanno used the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as the linchpin for his story. Kennedy's murder in Dallas was a mob hit, he says. And by the end of the book, Bonanno claims to have discussed the assassination with the primary hitman, Chicago mobster Johnny Roselli. It is Bonanno's premise that had the Mafia Commission that once controlled the underworld and settled disputes between mob families still been functioning, the assassination of the president would not have occurred. Old-line men of honor like his father, Joe Bonanno, would never have sanctioned the rubout. By way of historic reference, Bonanno claims that when mob leaders Albert Anastasia and Dutch Schultz wanted to gun down mob-busting New York prosecutor Thomas Dewey in 1938, they were talked out of their plan by Joe Bonanno, who emerged as a highly regarded leader of one of the five New York crime families. "My father talked Albert out of the plan, made him see the danger in it to all Families," Bonanno writes. Instead, Bonanno said, an "accommodation" was reached with Dewey, whose campaign for governor of New York was financed in part with a $250,000 contribution from the wiseguys. A similar accommodation, Bonanno contends, could have and should have been reached with the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert. But mob leaders in Miami and New Orleans and their anti-Castro allies turned to violence instead of mediation. By then the Mafia Commission, racked by an internecine and largely philosophical power struggle, was no longer operating. Bonanno contends the assassination had long-term negative repercussions for organized crime -- not to mentioned Roselli, who turned up dead and stuffed into an oil drum found floating in the Biscayne Bay. The political assassination, he argues, undermined the alliance between politicians and Mafia leaders who for several decades had quietly worked hand-in-hand to further each other's interests. After Kennedy was killed, neither side could trust the other. "Everything we were about was based on cooperation, not confrontation," Bonanno noted. "Our power was based on handshakes and payoffs, not guns and clandestine plots." It was the loss of values -- the loss of honor and loyalty and a to-die-for belief in an ancient code of conduct -- that brought an end to what Bonanno repeatedly refers to in his book as "our world." Bonanno writes about a parallel, Mafia-centric universe in which, he admits, his loyalty to his mob boss father and his crime family was paramount; more important than any other relationship, including his marriage to Rosalie Profaci, the niece of New York mob leader Joe Profaci. He does not apologize for what he was or what he did. Indeed, he writes longingly of a better time when honor and loyalty, not guns and money, were the cornerstones of the Mafia. It is a fascinating description. But like so much else in "Bound by Honor," it is virtually unverifiable. George Anastasia is a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the author of three books on the Philadelphia mob. He is currently writing a book about the Thomas Capano-Anne Marie Fahey murder case in Delaware. He is not related to the Anastasia mafia family. Pub Date: 05/30/99 http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-05-30/entertainment/9905300296_1_bill-bonanno-joe-bonanno-mafia-commission#.UwSNDCirLGo.facebook

Hacking trial: Rebekah Brooks 'suggested blaming fellow executives for phone hacking' In an email the former News International chief executive officer sent to her boss James Murdoch suggested blaming Les Hinton and Colin Myler, court hears By Martin Evans The Telegraph 3:35PM GMT 19 Feb 2014 Rebekah Brooks suggested publishing a report into the phone hacking scandal that blamed two of her fellow executives, Les Hinton and Colin Myler, a court has heard. In an email the former News International chief executive officer sent to her boss James Murdoch, entitled Plan B, she suggested a strategy that would “vindicate” her position but “slam Les, Colin etc”. Details of the alleged plan emerged during the phone hacking trial and were contained in an email exchange between Mrs Brooks and Mr Murdoch that was shown to the jury. The email was sent on July 8 2011 as the phone hacking scandal was engulfing News International. In the email she suggested the company deliberate leak an internal announcement from Mr Murdoch about its response to phone hacking revelations. In the email shown to the jury, she wrote: "A thought … and a Les situation could play well into this even if it was at a later date. Ie result of report when published would slam Les, Colin [Myler, News of the World editor] etc and it will vindicate my position (or not)." Mr Hinton was the former chief executive of News International who left the company at the end of 2007 to run Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal in New York. Mr Myler was the editor of the News of the World when the paper closed in 2011 in response to the phone hacking scandal. The email went on: “Something like this as an internal announcement from you that gets leaked. “In 2007 - news international accepted the conclusion of the police investigation into the phone hacking scandal. We were wrong to do so as the new robust criminal investigation has emphatically proved. “Our internal investigations were woeful and limited and we failed to hold the right people accountable. “The result was the very sad closure of an outstanding newspaper whose reputation was irreparably tarnished by the actions of a few. We are committed to retaining as many jobs as possible. “Today James Murdoch announces Will Lewis promotion to deputy CEO. Both he and Rebekah Brooks will report directly to him. “The management and standards committee chaired by Will Lewis will directly to report to JRM. Phone hacking,. police payments, Public inquiry an day to day oversights of the criminal investigations. “Concurrently outside counsel Olswang will review all previous internal investigations and investigate every new allegation into the NOTW over the last decade. (Includes my editorship) “We will not be on trial by the meda whose previous practices were... “NI will publish the findings of this report and where there were serious failings or errors of judgement those culpable will be held accountable and leave the company. “What do you think? We can go further and say until the report is published Will takes my place on TNHL board which is governance? “Will goes on andrew Marr?? “I am ring fenced clearly and properly. “It will be written as slippery slope for me but I hardly have a reputation left.” The prosecution has concluded its case and the defence is expected to open tomorrow. The trial continues.

Tony Blair advised Rebekah Brooks on phone-hacking scandal, court hears Former prime minister suggested setting up 'Hutton style' inquiry, according to email from former News International chief Read Rebekah Brooks's email to James Murdoch in full (PDF) http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/19/tony-blair-rebekah-brooks-phone-hacking · By Lisa O’Carroll theguardian.com, Wednesday 19 February 2014 07.45 EST Tony Blair advised Rebekah Brooks to launch a "Hutton style" inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World at the height of the scandal over the issue, according to an email that has emerged at the Old Bailey trial. The revelation emerged in an email that was read to the jury in the hacking trial on Wednesday, and followed what Brooks said was an hour-long phone call. According to the email, sent the day after the News of the World's final issue and six days before Brooks was arrested, Blair also told her he was "available" to her and Rupert and James Murdoch as an "unofficial adviser" on a "between us" basis. The advice was said to have been given on 11 July 2011 and contained in an email she sent at 4.20pm to James Murdoch, the then executive chairman of News International. According to Brooks's note, Blair advised her to set up an "independent" inquiry, suggesting it could have "outside counsel, Ken Macdonald [the former director of public prosecutions], a great and good type". He said the inquiry would be "Hutton style" – a reference to Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of David Kelly – and would "clear" her, but warned that "shortcomings" would have to be accepted as a result of the report. According to the email the advice was given in an hour-long phone conversation. Blair advised her to "tough up" and not to make any "rash short-term solutions as they only give you long-term headaches." He also told her to "keep strong" and advised her to take "sleeping pills". Prosecutor Andrew Edis read out the entire email exchange between Brooks and James Murdoch to the jury as part of the formal conclusion of the Crown's case. After finishing in the email he turned to the jury to simply say "Well, that's that" before moving on to the next piece of evidence. Brooks told James Murdoch in the email: "I had an hour on the phone to Tony Blair" and then proceeded to outline the points he had allegedly made in the conversation. "1. Form an independent unit that has an outside junior counsel, Ken Macdonald, a great and good type, a serious forensic criminal barrister, internal counsel, proper fact checkers etc in it. Get them to investigate me and others and publish a Hutton style report," she said. "2. Publish part one of the report at same time as the police closes its inquiry and clear you and accept short comings and new solutions and process and part two when any trials are over. "3. Keep strong and definitely sleeping pills. Need to have clear heads and remember no rash short term solutions as they only give you long term headaches. "4. It will pass. Tough up. "5. He is available for you, KRM [Rupert Murdoch] and me as an unofficial adviser but needs to be between us," she wrote.

Rescuing a Vietnam Casualty: Johnson’s Legacy The New York Times By ADAM NAGOURNEY FEB. 15, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/us/rescuing-a-vietnam-casualty-johnsons-legacy.html

In Vanity Fair’s March issue, Mark Seal uncovers the truth about the close relationship between Wendi Deng, third wife to media titan Rupert Murdoch, and married former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In an excerpt from the story, available on stands today, Seal reveals how the secrecy surrounding their intimacy quickly unraveled—first with the help of Murdoch’s loyal, observant staff, and later through a steamy, lovelorn missive. http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2014/03/wendi-deng-note-tony-blair

Richard Nixon, Hopeless Romantic The surprisingly tender love letters of one of America's most hated presidents. By WILL SWIFT Politico.com February 13, 2014 http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/nixon-in-love-103490.html#ixzz2tLbnmz6l http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/nixon-in-love-103490.html#.Uv65WLCPKM8