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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mummamea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges the

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Speaker 1: traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is

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Speaker 1: recorded on.

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Speaker 2: Hi.

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Speaker 1: I'm Claire Murphy. This is Mumma MEA's twice daily news podcast,

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Speaker 1: The Quickie. This week, some of the very richest people

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Speaker 1: in the world made headlines for very different reasons. In

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Speaker 1: one case, media mogul Rupert Murdock has had a very

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Speaker 1: bad day in court, the future of his media empire

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Speaker 1: now hanging in the balance. In the other, the wealthy

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Speaker 1: CEO of US Health Insurance Company was shot and killed

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Speaker 1: by a man who seemed to have captured the sentiment

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Speaker 1: of Americans who continue to struggle with navigating their expensive

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Speaker 1: and complicated healthcare system. Today we break down who the

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Speaker 1: alleged shooter at Luigi Mangioni is and why the Murdoch

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Speaker 1: family's legacy might be about to change. But first, here's

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Speaker 1: the letters from the Quikie newsroom, Thursday, December twelfth. The

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Speaker 1: value of Australian homes could drop slightly at the start

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Speaker 1: of next year, but an expected interest rate cut could

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Speaker 1: see that trend reverse. The data from core Logic shows

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Speaker 1: the start of twenty twenty five may see a continuation

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Speaker 1: of the drag on buyer demand, which could result in

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Speaker 1: a small decline in national home values, but the report

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Speaker 1: notes had dropping interest rates by the Reserve Bank could

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Speaker 1: increase demand amongst prospective buyers. The slowdown in rent growth

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Speaker 1: recorded across twenty twenty four is also expected to continue

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five as demand continues to be squeezed

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Speaker 1: due to the restraints brought on by the cost of

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Speaker 1: living crisis. Thousands of women are expected to join class

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Speaker 1: actions against two of the country's biggest mining companies, alleging

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Speaker 1: widespread and systemic sexual harassment and discrimination dating back two decades.

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Speaker 1: Lawyers who are handling the class actions say that some

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Speaker 1: of the women feel completely broken by their experience working

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Speaker 1: in the mines. Some say they were urinated on, groped,

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Speaker 1: shown pornographic videos, and intimidated by male colleagues who threatened violence,

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Speaker 1: including rape. Some women reported they were ridiculed and sometimes

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Speaker 1: sacked by the companies after trying to speak out about

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Speaker 1: their experiences. Many have been unable to return to work

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Speaker 1: due to sustain sexual assaults and harassment, or have been

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Speaker 1: overlooked for any further opportunities in their career if they

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Speaker 1: speak up. The two companies involved, Rio Tinto and BHP

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Speaker 1: have apologized to anyone who's experienced any form of harassment

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Speaker 1: whilst working on mind sits under their control, saying they're

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Speaker 1: working to change the culture and that they have a

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Speaker 1: zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior. More details

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Speaker 1: have been revealed about what was written in the three

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Speaker 1: page manifesto written by the alleged health insurance CEO shooter,

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Speaker 1: Luigi Mangioni. He wrote a note to those who would

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Speaker 1: end up investigating the crime, saying to the FEDS, I'll

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Speaker 1: keep this short because I do respect what you do

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Speaker 1: for our country. To save your lengthy investigation, I state

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Speaker 1: plainly that I wasn't working with anyone. He also reportedly

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Speaker 1: wrote in a notebook that he considered the best way

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Speaker 1: to kill United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, saying what could

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Speaker 1: be better than to kill the CEO at his own

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Speaker 1: bean counting conference, allegedly acknowledging that a shooting would be

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Speaker 1: more targeted and that a bomb could kill innocence. Mangioni

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Speaker 1: is being held in prison in Pennsylvania as he finds

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Speaker 1: sex tradition to New York, where he's facing murder charges.

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Speaker 1: The Syrian rebels who overthrew the dictator Bashah Alissade last

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Speaker 1: week have lifted the curfew they imposed on the capitol Damascus,

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Speaker 1: urging the people to resume business as usual. The rebel

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Speaker 1: command released a statement saying they want to work to

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Speaker 1: rebuild a new Syria. After imposing the curfew from Sunday

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Speaker 1: of four pm to five am, The main commander said

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Speaker 1: anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees during

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Speaker 1: the ousted Syrian president's rule would be hunted down and

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Speaker 1: pardons were out of the question. The world is now

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Speaker 1: watching to see what will happen in the wake of

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Speaker 1: the dictators fall, to see if the new leaders can

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Speaker 1: find stability and avoid unleashing violent revenge after a thirteen

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Speaker 1: year civil war destroyed the country. That's what's happening in

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Speaker 1: the world today. Next, who is Luigi Mangioni and why

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Speaker 1: is the Internet happy that he committed murder? When the

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Speaker 1: shooting death of a health insurance CEO was celebrated by

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Speaker 1: people across the internet this past week, it exposed again

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Speaker 1: just how angry Americans are with their health care system

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Speaker 1: and the insurance companies who hold the power of life

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Speaker 1: and death. The man who allegedly pulled the trigger was

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Speaker 1: arrested this week amid a wave of support from neticens

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Speaker 1: who believe his actions were justified, claiming the algorithms insurance

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Speaker 1: companies have been using to deny claims for treatment have

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Speaker 1: killed thousands. Five days after the shooting death of United

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Speaker 1: Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of New York hotel, a

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Speaker 1: twenty six year old man is in custody, a man

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Speaker 1: who was never on their suspect list. An employee in

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Speaker 1: a mcdonald' in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recognized the man as the

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Speaker 1: one that they'd seen in footage from CCTV cameras from

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Speaker 1: the day that Brian Thompson was shot as he walked

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Speaker 1: into the Hilton Hotel to attend a conference. He appeared

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Speaker 1: to have lain in wait for Thompson, standing behind a

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Speaker 1: parked car for five minutes, wearing a hoodie in a mask,

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Speaker 1: allowing others to walk past, until Thompson can be seen

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Speaker 1: in the footage walking up to him. The man then

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Speaker 1: emerges from behind the car, pulls a gun fitted with

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Speaker 1: a silencer from his pocket and shoots. He then fled

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Speaker 1: on foot before jumping on an e bike and riding

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Speaker 1: it into Central Park, where the cameras lost him. The

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Speaker 1: bullet casings that were left behind bore the words delay, deny,

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Speaker 1: and depose, in what's believed to be reference to a

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Speaker 1: process utilized by US health insurance companies to deny patients

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Speaker 1: claims and increase their profits. A national man hunt ensued,

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Speaker 1: with footage sent out to the public of the alleged

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Speaker 1: suspect in the back of a taxi and flirting with

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Speaker 1: a Starbucks employee, showing him both with and without the mask.

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Speaker 1: In the days before the shooting, he'd used a false

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Speaker 1: ID to check into a Manhattan hotel, a dead end

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Speaker 1: for police. The NYPD offered a ten thousand dollars reward

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Speaker 1: for any information that led to an arrest and conviction

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Speaker 1: over the shooting. The FBI followed that up with an

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Speaker 1: extra fifty thousand dollars US reward. Investigators drew up a

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Speaker 1: list of suspects, but it wouldn't be until a call

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Speaker 1: came in from the Alturna McDonald's Tuesday morning our time

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Speaker 1: that they would even consider this guy's suspect.

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Speaker 3: Earlier this morning, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, members of the Altuna

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Speaker 3: Police Department arrested Luigi Mangioni, a twenty six year old

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Speaker 3: mail on firearms charges. At this time, he is believed

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Speaker 3: to be our person of interest in the brazen targeted

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Speaker 3: murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare last Wednesday

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Speaker 3: in Midtown Manhattan. Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was

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Speaker 3: acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent ID as well

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Speaker 3: as a US passport. Upon further investigation, officers recovered a

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Speaker 3: firearm on his person, as well as a suppressor, both

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Speaker 3: consistent with the weapon used in the murder.

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Speaker 1: When officers arrived at the McDonald's, they found the man

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Speaker 1: the server believed was a shooter sitting in the back

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Speaker 1: of the restaurant, wearing a medical face mask in a beanie,

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Speaker 1: looking at something on a laptop. They approached him and

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Speaker 1: asked him to remove his mask, which he did. The

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Speaker 1: complaint they filed against him says they immediately recognized him

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Speaker 1: as the suspect. The officers then asked him to hand

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Speaker 1: over his ID, which he complied with, handing them a

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Speaker 1: new jersey ID with the name Mark Rosario. He seemed

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Speaker 1: calm right up until they asked him if he'd been

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Speaker 1: to New York recently. The officers say after that question,

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Speaker 1: he became very quiet and started to shake. They checked

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Speaker 1: the ID but couldn't find any records to match it,

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Speaker 1: telling the man that he was now under police investigation.

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Speaker 1: It was then he told them his real name was

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Speaker 1: Luigi Mangioni. When asked why he'd given a false name,

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Speaker 1: he replied, I clearly shouldn't have. He appeared in court

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Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, shouting a message to the waiting media.

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Speaker 3: Experience.

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Speaker 1: He said, this is completely unjust and an insult to

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Speaker 1: the American people and their lived experience. The judge read

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Speaker 1: out the police complaint Mangioni, pushing back on two claims

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Speaker 1: officers had made about him. The first was that he

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Speaker 1: was trying to evade authorities because he had eight thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars cash on his person. He said he didn't know

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Speaker 1: where the money had come from, suggesting it had been planted.

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Speaker 1: The other was that he showed signs of criminal sophistication

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Speaker 1: because he had a Faraday bag on him, a device

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Speaker 1: that blocks cell phone signals. He said he only had

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Speaker 1: it because it was waterproof, and he didn't know anything

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Speaker 1: about criminal sophistication. The complaint also outlined a three page

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Speaker 1: document found in Mangioni's belongings which suggested he had ill

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Speaker 1: will towards corporate America and specifically referenced United Healthcare, but

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Speaker 1: not Thompson by name. It also didn't specify any other

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Speaker 1: clear targets. It reportedly included the line these parasites had

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Speaker 1: it coming. I do apologize for any strife in trauma,

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Speaker 1: but it had to be done. The gun in question

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Speaker 1: seems to have been in part at least three D printed,

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Speaker 1: which may explain why misfired during the attack. These are

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Speaker 1: often referred to as ghost guns, firearms that have been

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Speaker 1: bought as incomplete frames which can then be turned into

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Speaker 1: a functional gun with other three D printed parts. He

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Speaker 1: was charged with weapons and other offenses connected to the

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Speaker 1: false I DS, but did not enter a plea when

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Speaker 1: he faced court. While he's still being held in Pennsylvania,

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Speaker 1: New York detectives flew in to question him and later

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Speaker 1: filed a murder charge against him too. So who is

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Speaker 1: Luigi Mangioni? Netterison scoured his social media accounts to try

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Speaker 1: and find a potential motive for the shooting. Before Meta

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Speaker 1: removed his Facebook and Instagram accounts, and YouTube took down

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Speaker 1: his videos. X did briefly suspend his account, but after

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Speaker 1: intervention from Elon Musk, it was reinstated. In this video

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Speaker 1: from twenty sixteen, we see him graduating high school in

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Speaker 1: Pennsylvania named his class Valedictorian.

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Speaker 2: Valedictorian Luigi Nicholas Mangioni. Luigi Exaculate.

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Speaker 3: To the class of twenty sixteen, a kind of class

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Speaker 3: that only comes around once every fifty years.

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Speaker 2: It's been an incredible journey and I simply can't imagine

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Speaker 2: the last few years with any other group of guys.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: He went to the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school,

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Speaker 1: where he graduated with the Masters and Bachelors in Computer

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Speaker 1: Science and Information Science in twenty twenty. Since then, he's

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Speaker 1: worked as a data engineer at a company called Trueca.

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Speaker 1: He posted about things he liked Pokemon and Carlie Ray

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Speaker 1: Jepson songs. His Twitter account shows conversations about his concerns

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Speaker 1: about Jordan Peterson and how he supported comments made by

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Speaker 1: former Fox News host Tucker Culson about Russian architecture. His

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Speaker 1: former roommate when he lived in Hawaii. R. J. Martin

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Speaker 1: told CNN that he is beyond shocked by the news

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Speaker 1: his friend was being held as a suspect in this

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Speaker 1: terrible crime. He explained that Mangioni had a back problem

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Speaker 1: that would at times leave him bedridden, saying he did

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Speaker 1: have surgery earlier this year where they had to place

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Speaker 1: screws into his spine, and you can see a picture

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Speaker 1: posted in his Twitter bio that seems to reflect this.

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Speaker 1: One netizen also looked at his Goodreads list and found

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Speaker 1: that he had read several books about pain management. Martin

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Speaker 1: says they never talked about guns or violence. Mangioni is

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Speaker 1: the grandson of self made multimillionaire Nicholas Mangioni, who died

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. He built and owned nursing

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Speaker 1: homes and hospitals. He and his wife Mary also founded

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Speaker 1: a nursing home and assisted living company called Loraine Health Services,

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Speaker 1: operating nine facilities in Maryland. While the company website states

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Speaker 1: that these are still run by the family, there are

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Speaker 1: reports that you Know a healthcare the company, Brian Thompson

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Speaker 1: was the head of had attempted to buy them, but

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Speaker 1: this has not been confirmed. Mangioni's family also has ties

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Speaker 1: to the Republican Party. His cousin, Nino Mangioni, is a

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Speaker 1: member of the Maryland House of Delegates and served as

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Speaker 1: a Baltimore County co chair for the state's Trump victory

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Speaker 1: leadership county team. Luigi Mangioni will be back in court

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Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania on December twenty three. He's been denied bail

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Speaker 1: and is reportedly preparing to fight his extradition to New York.

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Speaker 1: Or Keep you updated as this case unfolds.

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Speaker 3: Next.

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Speaker 1: Ozzie medium ogul Rupert Murdoch had a very bad day

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Speaker 1: in court this week. We find out what it means

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Speaker 1: for the Murdoch family empire and the chosen son, Lachlin,

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Speaker 1: who's been denied the right to control it all. Rupert

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Speaker 1: Murdoch's attempt to secure his empire's future hit a significant

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Speaker 1: roadblock this week. The ninety three year old billion naire's

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Speaker 1: bid to modify his family trust to grant sole control

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Speaker 1: to his eldest son, Lachlan, was firmly rejected by Nevada court.

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Speaker 1: Nevada Probate Commissioner Edmund Gorman Junior delivered a scathing ninety

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Speaker 1: six page ruling that characterized the proposed trust modification as

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Speaker 1: a carefully crafted charade, finding that both Rupert and Lachlan

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Speaker 1: Murdoch had acted in bad faith in their attempt to

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Speaker 1: alter the trust. The current trust structure ensures equal control

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Speaker 1: amongst Murdoch's four eldest children, Lachlan, James, Elizabeth, and Prudence

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Speaker 1: when Rupert Murdock passes away.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: This arrangement was established following Murdoch's divorce from his second wife, Anna.

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Speaker 1: Anna wanted to ensure that no further children that Rupert

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Speaker 1: might have would be able to make decisions that could

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Speaker 1: impact the empire in the future. His two youngest children, though,

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Speaker 1: still benefit from it financially now. Currently, Rupert has four

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Speaker 1: votes to the children's one each, giving him the ultimate

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Speaker 1: final say after he goes, though Lachlan, who is now

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Speaker 1: the CEO of both Fox News and News Corp, Will

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Speaker 1: not have that same power, having to defer to his siblings.

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Speaker 1: The attempted modification would have fundamentally altered the power dynamics

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Speaker 1: within one of the world's most influential media empires, Fox

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Speaker 1: News and News Corp, which include major outlets like The

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Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal and The New York Post now hang

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Speaker 1: in the ballance. Rupert argued that concentrating power in Lachlan's

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Speaker 1: hands was essential to maintain Fox News's conservative editorial direction

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Speaker 1: and preserve its commercial value. This legal battle, though, has

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Speaker 1: exposed deep divisions within the Murdoch family. The three siblings, Prudence, Elizabeth,

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Speaker 1: and James opposed the changes, leading to a rare public

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Speaker 1: family dispute. These three have welcomed the court's decision, expressing

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Speaker 1: hope that the family can now focus on strengthening and

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Speaker 1: rebuilding relationships. While the news of the court case broke

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Speaker 1: earlier this year, we didn't have a lot of information

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Speaker 1: to go on the Murdocks keeping their affairs private, the

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Speaker 1: case happening behind closed doors. But now we've heard that

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Speaker 1: the TV show Successions finale, which aired back in May

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Speaker 1: last year, could have been the catalyst. Matthew Ricketson is

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Speaker 1: a former journalist and our professor of Communications Deacon University. Matthew,

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Speaker 1: is it true that there are some succession connections to

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Speaker 1: this Murdoch family dispute.

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Speaker 2: It does appear to be that, and it's a bizarre

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Speaker 2: case of life imitating art yet again, in the sense

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Speaker 2: that the Succession, the drama about Logan Roy and his family,

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Speaker 2: was said to be based on the Murdoch family and

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Speaker 2: also another media executive family. Some are Redstone and so

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Speaker 2: on in the US, but big chunks of the Murdoch

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Speaker 2: media family history and dynamics. When Rupert Murdoch separated from

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Speaker 2: his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, part of the divorce arrangements

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Speaker 2: were that she was not allowed to talk to the

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Speaker 2: scriptwriters of Succession and give them any kind of ideas

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Speaker 2: for future episode. Now, that was reported in Vanity Fair.

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Speaker 2: When Rupert Murdock had his ninetieth birthday apparent le they

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Speaker 2: played the Succession that very singular Succession theme music when

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Speaker 2: he entered the room. So the family kind of been

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Speaker 2: going backwards and forest life art life art and so on.

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Speaker 2: And now what's happened here, according to the ruling which

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Speaker 2: you've mentioned, is that Elizabeth Murdoch, one of three children

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Speaker 2: from Rupert Murdoch's second marriage to Anna Murdoch, when she

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Speaker 2: saw the episode in the fourth and final season of Succession,

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Speaker 2: where Logan Roy, the family patriarch, the kind of Murdoch

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Speaker 2: lookalike soundalike, dies, she was galvanized into action and she

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Speaker 2: sent through her legal representatives to the family Trust a

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Speaker 2: memo called the succession Memo like and that was about,

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Speaker 2: how are we going to avoid major problems when our

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Speaker 2: father eventually dies, and that's to do with the family Trust.

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Speaker 2: So she's trying to stave off that. And then, according

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Speaker 2: to the ruling, Lachlan in the middle of last year,

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Speaker 2: decides with his father that they're going to put into

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Speaker 2: place this scheme whereby they would change the family Trust

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Speaker 2: to cement Lachlan's position atop the global media empire that

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Speaker 2: is in charge of both the Fox Corporation and News Corporation.

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Speaker 2: And the problem with that is that his other three siblings,

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Speaker 2: in particular James, think that News Corp. And in particular

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Speaker 2: Fox News, is absolutely on the wrong track in terms

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Speaker 2: of significant issues such as the need to combat and

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Speaker 2: take action against climate change, and also the way in

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Speaker 2: which Fox News reported on the baseless allegations after the

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty US presidential election that the result had been rigged.

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Speaker 2: He actually was involved at this very senior level at

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Speaker 2: News Corporation at that time, and he left the company

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Speaker 2: because he was just appalled by the way they were

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Speaker 2: going about what they were doing.

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Speaker 1: So what then Matthew happens if Rupert Murdoch does pass

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Speaker 1: away at this point, because with all siblings with an

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Speaker 1: equal vote, no one has the final say like Rupert

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Speaker 1: Murdock currently does. What does that mean for the companies

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Speaker 1: after his passing, Well.

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Speaker 2: That's absolutely it. And yes, he is ninety three now.

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Speaker 2: His mother lived until she was one hundred and three,

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Speaker 2: so genetically that's on his side. But you know, he

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Speaker 2: is old, he is getting frail, and he will eventually

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Speaker 2: pass away. He has four votes in the family Trust.

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Speaker 2: His four children from his first two marriages have four,

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Speaker 2: so they're equally balanced, which gives him the power he

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Speaker 2: goes those votes go, and then it's a question of

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Speaker 2: you can get a two to two split, or you

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Speaker 2: can get a one to three split, or you can

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Speaker 2: get four obviously all in happy alignment. But happy alignment

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Speaker 2: appears to be not on our horizon at the moment.

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Speaker 2: And what is speculated, and I stress it speculation because

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Speaker 2: nobody really knows, is that Lachlan has one vote and

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Speaker 2: his three siblings will vote against him and will vote

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Speaker 2: to move him on as chief executive and to either

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Speaker 2: install one of them or two of them or whatever,

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Speaker 2: and or another chief executive. But the Murdock kind of

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Speaker 2: genetic strain is to run things yourself. So if against speculation,

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Speaker 2: but if James took over, you would think that he

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Speaker 2: would alter the editorial course of the company, which leans

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Speaker 2: and has leaned for quite some time hard to the right.

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Speaker 2: And I am by no means the only commentator who

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Speaker 2: has said that Fox News has for a good number

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Speaker 2: of years now not been engaging primarily as a journalistic outfit,

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Speaker 2: but as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party in

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Speaker 2: the United States, in particular the Republican Party which has

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Speaker 2: now become the kind of Trump Party, and all but name,

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Speaker 2: and again, the kind of consequences of that spin out

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Speaker 2: quite far and wide.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned there, the best ringside seats will be the

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Speaker 1: Murdoch family Christmas this year. I mean, James and Rupert

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Speaker 1: have been on the utter for quite some time. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Lachlin and Rupert are very close, but Prue and Elizabeth

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Speaker 1: have always seemed quite close to Rupert too. Does this

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Speaker 1: look like a real major family fracture or can they

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Speaker 1: keep business and person all separate in the Murdoch family.

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Speaker 2: Who knows? I mean, Prue is the daughter of the

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Speaker 2: first marriage, and she's never been particularly involved in the business.

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Speaker 2: She is, according to the various biographies and so on

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Speaker 2: that I've read, has some kind of relationship with her father.

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Speaker 2: Elizabeth has made her own way as a business person,

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Speaker 2: particularly in the media, more so in entertainment and in

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Speaker 2: making reality television programs and so on, but has been

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Speaker 2: a successful business person in her own right. James is

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Speaker 2: the one with the harder kind of political and ideological edge,

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Speaker 2: if you like, I should say that those siblings, the

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Speaker 2: three siblings did put out a statement which said basically,

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Speaker 2: they didn't say they hope Christmas will be fine, but

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Speaker 2: they said we hope, you know, we can put this

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Speaker 2: all behind us. But those fairly fragile words are kind

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Speaker 2: of lined up against what looks like a tidal wave

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Speaker 2: of angst and in fighting and power grabbing and over

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Speaker 2: money and power and wealth and influence. So again, I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't want to be well to be at the Christmas dinner,

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Speaker 2: but only appealing to my own base voyeuristic againstincts.

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Speaker 1: This ruling ensures that the future of the Murdock Empire

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Speaker 1: remains a family affair for now, with all four siblings

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Speaker 1: maintaining their equals say in the direction of one of

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Speaker 1: the world's most powerful media conglomerates. And as this real

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Speaker 1: life succession drama continues to unfold, the media industry watches

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Speaker 1: closely to see how this power sharing arrangement will shape

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Speaker 1: the future of news and entertainment globally. Thanks for taking

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Speaker 1: the time to feed your mind with us today. The

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Speaker 1: quickie is produced by me Claire Murphy and our executive

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Speaker 1: producer Taylor Strano, with audio production by Teag and Sad Love.