Writing Step By Step Instructions Level A Basic Communication Describe A Supermarket: Fill & Download for Free

Israel does not control the USA. We have a lot of countries that we consider allies, a lot in the Middle East, and Israel is one of them. We offer support to our allies, but nobody controls the US, except for us. The only person that has a lot of power in the US, is Ruport Murdoch, who basically controls our media. He is a Christian man, from Australia, and is in no way affiliated with Israel. That is the only person, I would say has more power in the US, than the US government. He basically controls the media world wide. Below is some info on the man, who does control the US, and what the world believes. He is actually said to be buddy buddy with Mr. Salman from Saudia Arabia. Another reason you are not hearing a lot of stuff in the media about the killing of the American journalist who was killed and dismembered by Mr. Salman.Rupert MurdochFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaRupert MurdochMurdoch in December 2012BornKeith Rupert Murdoch11 March 1931 (age 89)Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaCitizenshipAustralian (1931–1985)American (naturalized 1985)Known forChairman and CEO of News Corporation (1980–2013)Executive chairman of News Corp (2013–present)Chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox (2013–2015)Executive Co-chairman of 21st Century Fox (2015–2019)Acting CEO of Fox News (2016–2018)Chairman of Fox News (2016–2019)Chairman of Fox Corporation (2019–present)Net worthUS$16.3 billion (May 2020)^ Australian citizenship lost in 1985 (under S17 of Australian Citizenship Act 1948) with acquisition of US nationality.Keith Rupert Murdoch AC KCSG (/ˈmɜːrdɒk/ MUR-dok; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American media mogul.[3]Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including The Sun and The Times in the UK, The Daily Telegraph and The Australian in Australia, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post in the US, book publisher HarperCollins, and the television broadcasting channels Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation). He was also the owner of Sky (until 2018), 21st Century Fox (until 2019), and the now-defunct News of the World.After his father's death in 1952, Murdoch took over the running of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World, followed closely by The Sun. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the U.S. market; however, he retained interests in Australia and Britain. In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and, in 1985, became a naturalized U.S. citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for U.S. television network ownership.[4]In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his UK printing operations in London, causing bitter industrial disputes. His holding company News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989),[5]and The Wall Street Journal (2007). Murdoch formed the British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and, during the 1990s, expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries, with a net worth of over $5 billion.In July 2011, Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the U.S.Activities in Australia and New ZealandJournalist Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952), Rupert Murdoch's fatherFollowing his father's death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of what was left of the family business. After liquidation of his father's Herald stake to pay taxes, what was left was News Limited, which had been established in 1923.[19]:16Rupert Murdoch turned its Adelaide newspaper, The News, its main asset, into a major success.[25]He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the troubled Sunday Times in Perth, Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory, including the Sydney afternoon tabloid, The Daily Mirror (1960). The Economist describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid",[28]as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines.[4]Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved the purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand daily The Dominion. In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnate, Lord Thomson of Fleet. On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which the 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful.[29]Later in 1964, Murdoch launched The Australian, Australia's first national daily newspaper, which was based first in Canberra and later in Sydney.[30]In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloid The Daily Telegraph from Australian media mogul Sir Frank Packer, who later regretted selling it to him.[31]In 1984, Murdoch was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for services to publishing.[32]In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; he merged that with Festival Records, and the result was Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.[33]Political activities in AustraliaMurdoch found a political ally in Sir John McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as the National Party of Australia), who was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt-Gorton Liberal Party. From the first issue of The Australian, Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. (The Australian, 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open the way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well.[34]After McEwen and Menzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind the Australian Labor Party under the leadership of Gough Whitlam and duly saw it elected[35]on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of the People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-lived National Star[34]newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there.[36]Asked about the 2007 Australian federal election at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said, "I am not commenting on anything to do with Australian politics. I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime Minister John Howard should continue as prime minister, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in the papers. It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors."[37]In 2009, in response to accusations by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that News Limited was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive".[38]Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as "...more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia..." and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 as unnecessary.[39]Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including the Daily Telegraph, the Courier-Mail and the Adelaide Advertiser, it was suggested by the commentator Mungo MacCallum in The Monthly that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took a different position from local editors on such matters as climate change and stimulus packages to combat the financial crisis.[40]Murdoch is a supporter of an Australian republic, having campaigned for one during the 1999 referendum.[41]Activities in the United KingdomBusiness activities in the United KingdomRupert Murdoch – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, in 2007In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist News of the World, followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily The Sun from IPC.[42]Murdoch turned The Sun into a tabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. On acquiring it, he appointed Albert 'Larry' Lamb as editor and – Lamb recalled later – told him: "I want a tearaway paper with lots of tits in it". In 1997 The Sun attracted 10 million daily readers.[4]In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling Times and Sunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet.[42]Ownership of The Times came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of an extended period of industrial action that stopped publication.[43]In the light of success and expansion at The Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times from 1967, was switched to the daily Times, though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.[44][45]During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[46]At the end of the Thatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to the Labour Party and its leader, Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain.[47]This later changed, with The Sun, in its English editions, publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support to David Cameron's Conservative Party, which soon afterwards formed a coalition government. In Scotland, where the Tories had suffered a complete annihilation in 1997, the paper began to endorse the Scottish National Party (though not yet its flagship policy of independence), which soon after came to form the first ever outright majority in the proportionally elected Scottish Parliament. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch".[48]In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out in Wapping, one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse.[49]The bitter Wapping dispute started with the dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging the British trade union movement.In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million.In 1998, Murdoch made an attempt to buy the football club Manchester United F.C.,[53]with an offer of £625 million, but this failed. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by the United Kingdom's Competition Commission, which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football".Murdoch's British-based satellite network, Sky Television, incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990The merged company, BSkyB, has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since pursuing direct to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting.[54]By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in the UK.Murdoch has a seat on the Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil and Gas, having jointly investing with Lord Rothschild in a 5.5% stake in the company which conducted shale gas and oil exploration in Colorado, Mongolia, Israel and, controversially, the occupied Golan Heights.[55]In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of the micropayments model for obtaining revenue from on-line news,[56]although this has been criticised by some.[57]In January 2018, the CMA blocked Murdoch from taking over the remaining 61% of BSkyB he did not already own, over fear of market dominance that could potentialise censorship of the media. His bid for BSkyB was later approved by the CMA as long as he sold Sky News to The Walt Disney Company, who was already set to acquire 21st Century Fox. However, it was Comcast who won control of BSkyB in a blind auction ordered by the CMA. Murdoch ultimately sold his 39% of BSkyB to Comcast.News Corporation has subsidiaries in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands and the Virgin Islands. From 1986, News Corporation's annual tax bill averaged around seven percent of its profits.[58]Political activities in United KingdomIn Britain, in the 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.In February 1981, when Murdoch, already owner of The Sun and The News of the World, sought to buy The Times and The Sunday Times, Thatcher's government let his bid pass without referring it to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which was usual practice at the time.Although contact between the two before this point had been explicitly denied in an official history of The Times, documents found in Thatcher's archives in 2012 revealed a secret meeting had taken place a month before in which Murdoch briefed Thatcher on his plans for the paper, such as taking on trade unions.The Sun credited itself with helping her successor John Major to win an unexpected election victory in the 1992 general election, which had been expected to end in a hung parliament or a narrow win for Labour, then led by Neil Kinnock.In the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, Murdoch's papers were either neutral or supported Labour under Tony Blair.The Labour Party, from when Tony Blair became leader in 1994, had moved from the centre-left to a more centrist position on many economic issues prior to 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."In a speech he delivered in New York in 2005, Murdoch claimed that Blair described the BBC coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, which was critical of the Bush administration's response, as full of hatred of America.On 28 June 2006, the BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were considering backing new Conservative leader David Cameron at the next General Election – still up to four years away.In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much".In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of the News of the World phone hacking scandal which might yet have Transatlantic implicationsMurdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron.Despite this, there had already been a convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulator Ofcom.In August 2008, British Conservative leader and future Prime Minister David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, the Rosehearty.Cameron declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guru Matthew Freud; Cameron did not reveal his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud's Gulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson, the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and co-chairman of NBC Universal Ben Silverman. The Conservatives did not disclose what was discussed.In July 2011, it emerged that Cameron had met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation a total of 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as Prime Minister up to that point.It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiring Andy Coulson, the former editor of News of the World, as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007.This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Lord Ashdown and The Guardian.Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at the News of the World, specifically the News International phone hacking scandal. As a result of the subsequent trial, Coulson was sentenced to 18 months in jail.In June 2016, The Sun supported Vote Leave in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Murdoch called the Brexit result "wonderful", comparing the decision to withdraw from the EU to "a prison break….we're out".News International phone hacking scandalMain article: News International phone hacking scandalIn July 2011, Murdoch, along with his son James, provided testimony before a British parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the UK, his media empire remains under fire, as investigators continue to probe reports of other phone hacking.On 14 July, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons served a summons on Murdoch, his son James, and his former CEO Rebekah Brooks to testify before a committee five days later.After an initial refusal, the Murdochs confirmed they would attend, after the committee issued them a summons to Parliament.The day before the committee, the website of the News Corporation publication The Sun was hacked, and a false story was posted on the front page claiming that Murdoch had died.Murdoch described the day of the committee "the most humble day of my life". He argued that since he ran a global business of 53,000 employees and that News of the World was "just 1%" of this, he was not ultimately responsible for what went on at the tabloid. He added that he had not considered resigning,and that he and the other top executives had been completely unaware of the hacking.On 15 July, Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family of Milly Dowler, where he personally apologized for the hacking of their murdered daughter's voicemail by a company he owns.On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing" that occurred. The second was titled "Putting right what's gone wrong", and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public's concerns.In the wake of the allegations, Murdoch accepted the resignations of Rebekah Brooks, head of Murdoch's British operations, and Les Hinton, head of Dow Jones who was chairman of Murdoch's British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrongdoing under their command.On 27 February 2012, the day after the first issue of The Sun on Sunday was published, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed the Leveson Inquiry that police are investigating a "network of corrupt officials" as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. She said that evidence suggested a "culture of illegal payments" at The Sun and that these payments allegedly made by The Sun were authorised at a senior level.In testimony on 25 April, Murdoch did not deny the quote attributed to him by his former editor of The Sunday Times, Harold Evans: "I give instructions to my editors all round the world, why shouldn't I in London?"On 1 May 2012, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued a report stating that Murdoch was "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".On 3 July 2013, the Exaro website and Channel 4 News broke the story of a secret recording. This was recorded by The Sun journalists, and in it Murdoch can be heard telling them that the whole investigation was one big fuss over nothing, and that he, or his successors, would take care of any journalists who went to prison.He said: "Why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing."Activities in the United StatesMurdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the San Antonio Express-News. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the U.S. market; however, he retained interests in Australia and Britain. Soon afterwards, he founded Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased the New York Post.On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only US citizens were permitted to own US television stations.In March 1984, Marvin Davis sold Marc Rich's interest in 20th Century Fox to Murdoch for $250 million due to Marc Rich's trade deals with Iran, which were sanctioned by the United States at the time. Marvin Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations.Rupert Murdoch bought the stations by himself, without Marvin Davis, and later bought out Davis's remaining stake in Fox for $325 million.The six television stations owned by Metromedia formed the nucleus of the Fox Broadcasting Company, founded on 9 October 1986, which later had great success with programs including The Simpsons and The X-Files.In 1986 Murdoch bought Misty Mountain, a Wallace Neff designed house on Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills. The house was the former residence of Jules C. Stein. Murdoch sold the house to his son James in 2018.In Australia, during 1987, he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd., the company that his father had once managed. Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox bought out the remaining assets of Four Star Television from Ronald Perelman's Compact Video in 1996.Most of Four Star Television's library of programs are controlled by 20th Century Fox Television today.After Murdoch's numerous buyouts during the buyout era of the eighties, News Corporation had built up financial debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK), despite the many assets that were held by NewsCorp.The high levels of debt caused Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s.In 1993, Murdoch's Fox Network took exclusive coverage of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL) from CBS and increased programming to seven days a week.In 1995, Fox became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. However, the FCC ruled in Murdoch's favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the best interests of the public. That same year, Murdoch announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website and magazine, The Weekly Standard. Also that year, News Corporation launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in partnership with Telstra. In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station. Ratings studies released in 2009 showed that the network was responsible for nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category at that time.Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (founder and former owner of CNN) are long-standing rivals.In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34% stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD).His Fox movie studio had global hits with Titanic and Avatar.In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corporation headquarters from Adelaide, Australia to the United States. Choosing a US domicile was designed to ensure that American fund managers could purchase shares in the company, since many were deciding not to buy shares in non-US companies.News Corporation logoOn 20 July 2005, News Corporation bought Intermix Media Inc., which held Myspace, Imagine Games Network and other social networking-themed websites, for US$580 million, making Murdoch a major player in online media concerns.In June 2011, it sold off Myspace for US$35 million.On 11 September 2005, News Corporation announced that it would buy IGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD).In May 2007, Murdoch made a $5 billion offer to purchase Dow Jones & Company. At the time, the Bancroft family, who had owned Dow Jones & Company for 105 years and controlled 64% of the shares at the time, declined the offer. Later, the Bancroft family confirmed a willingness to consider a sale. Besides Murdoch, the Associated Press reported that supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan were among the other interested parties.In 2007, Murdoch acquired Dow Jones & Company,which gave him such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's Magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review (based in Hong Kong) and SmartMoney.In June 2014, Murdoch's 21st Century Fox made a bid for Time Warner at $85 per share in stock and cash ($80 billion total) which Time Warner's board of directors turned down in July. Warner's CNN unit would have been sold to ease antitrust issues of the purchase.On 5 August 2014 the company announced it had withdrawn its offer for Time Warner, and said it would spend $6 billion buying back its own shares over the following 12 months.Murdoch left his post as CEO of 21st Century Fox in 2015 but continued to own the company until it was purchased by Disney in 2019.A number of television broadcasting assets were spun off into the Fox Corporation before the acquisition and are still owned by Murdoch. This includes Fox News, of which Murdoch was acting CEO from 2016 until 2019, following the resignation of Roger Ailes due to accusations of sexual harassment.Political activities in the United StatesMurdoch with President John F. Kennedy and Zell Rabin in the Oval Office in 1961President Ronald Reagan during a meeting with Murdoch in the Oval Office in 1983McKnight (2010) identifies four characteristics of his media operations: free market ideology; unified positions on matters of public policy; global editorial meetings; and opposition to liberal bias in other public media.In The New Yorker, Ken Auletta writes that Murdoch's support for Edward I. Koch while he was running for mayor of New York "spilled over onto the news pages of the Post, with the paper regularly publishing glowing stories about Koch and sometimes savage accounts of his four primary opponents."According to The New York Times, Ronald Reagan's campaign team credited Murdoch and the Post for his victory in New York in the 1980 United States presidential election.Reagan later "waived a prohibition against owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market," allowing Murdoch to continue to control The New York Post and The Boston Herald while expanding into television.On 8 May 2006, the Financial Times reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-New York) Senate re-election campaign.In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the New York Post's endorsement of Barack Obama in the democratic primaries". Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida [...] but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."Murdoch is a strong supporter of Israel and its domestic policies.In 2010, News Corporation gave US$1 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.Murdoch also served on the board of directors of the libertarian Cato Institute.Murdoch is also a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act.Murdoch advocates more open immigration policies in western nations generally.In the United States, Murdoch and chief executives from several major corporations, including Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and Disney joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to form the Partnership for a New American Economy to advocate "for immigration reform – including a path to legal status for all illegal aliens now in the United States".[133]The coalition, reflecting Murdoch and Bloomberg's own views, also advocates significant increases in legal immigration to the United States as a means of boosting America's sluggish economy and lowering unemployment. The Partnership's immigration policy prescriptions are notably similar to those of the Cato Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce — both of which Murdoch has supported in the past.[134]The Wall Street Journal editorial page has similarly advocated for increased legal immigration, in contrast to the staunch anti-immigration stance of Murdoch's British newspaper, The Sun.[135]On 5 September 2010, Murdoch testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership on the "Role of Immigration in Strengthening America's Economy". In his testimony, Murdoch called for ending mass deportations and endorsed a "comprehensive immigration reform" plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.[133]In the 2012 U.S. presidential election, Murdoch was critical of the competence of Mitt Romney's team but was nonetheless strongly supportive of a Republican victory, tweeting: "Of course I want him [Romney] to win, save us from socialism, etc."[136]In October 2015, Murdoch stirred controversy when he praised Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and referenced President Barack Obama, tweeting, "Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else."[137]After which he apologized, tweeting, "Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming."Since Donald Trump became the US president, Murdoch has shown support for him through the news stories broadcast in his media empire, including on Fox News.In early 2018, Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, had an intimate dinner at Murdoch's Bel Air estate in Los Angeles.

Like many more here, I also very strongly recommend everybody to do this. And do it when still young!I would like to share how I did this, since it might be very different than how people would go about it today. Imagine a world, where cellphones were just a toy for the rich, personal computers were only being installed in the corporate world and there was of course no internet! Such was the situation back in 1987 when I quit my well-paid chemist job, which I loved, to take the ultimate road trip through the Great American West. I did very little in the way of preparations, other to give two months notice to my employer as still is custom in Switzerland. These two months were enough to get me on the way. I did not need to care about car (which I did not own at that moment), apartment (I rather paid a very reasonable amount to my parents and stayed with them instead of fattening up some abusive landlord) or even a girlfriend. Due to this frugal lifestyle I had amassed quite some money,which was just what I needed, since the U.S. was a very expensive country for us Europeans to travel to, due to the exchange rate. So I went for the cheapest airfare available and got myself a rountrip ticket (Immigration laws!) had my "indefinitively" tourist visa stamped into my new passport and packed my travel bag.Instead of backpacking or hostels I opted for something different. Through a Swiss based company I got myself a four wheel drive high-clearance Ford 150 pickup truck that came equipped with a camper. Double 20 gallon gas tank, double battery, the camper came with a 50 gallon or so water tank, shower, stove and even a small gas operated fridge. And a nice bed above the cabin. This cost me 4500 Dollars back in 1987 down in Los Angeles and would be my home for the next 8 months. I actually was able to sell it after some 15000 miles of continued abuse mostly on dirt roads for 2500 in Utah. This was an excellent deal: The cheapest motels that were roach-free back then would go for around 20 dollars, so 250 days for 20 dollars would make 5000. And I already had the rental car covered, since it is pointless to try to travel the American West without a car. Additionally I cooked most meals for myself, purchasing food in the supermarkets. You could enjoy wonderful dishes and delicious breakfasts for almost nothing compared what was charged in restaurants. I did not drive every day, not by a long way. On some days I might cover several hunderd miles, though. On average, it was a mere 75 miles a day, which cost me close to nothing even on only 12 miles to the gallon. Which means about 6 gallons of fuel per day. It was still more than what I paid for food!Of course no one should claim to know a country or culture without dining out, and once in a while I would do just that. I planned the trip using the then-fabled Rand Mc Nally Road Atlas I purchased in Switzerland. I was going to rough it: I tried to cover all North American desert areas, with all National Parks, National Monuments and recreational areas that were enclosed within. The atlas and the proverbial Swiss Army knife (Do not leave home without it, it would actually save me and my skipper buddy from being cast away down the Gulf of California 2 years later) And a bag full of expensive camera stuff! Analog, of course with chemical film you had to process to convert it to easy to transport slides. Exposed film would not last long in the summer heat of the desert and I had to send film in every time I hit a somewhat larger town. I would not just wait for the slides to come back, which took several days. I would do several loop trips from these outposts getting to know the most unlikely spots in the process.I strongly recommend to travel by yourself. Don't be afraid of solitude. This might be the only time of your life where you will be truly free! No limits, such as relationships, job,children, spouse or society will be imposed on you. And no nagging from your better half! I became someone like a drifter, going from place to place. A lone wolf of the desert, just like the proverbial desperado, never staying long enough to get noticed. No need to carry guns, though! No troublemaker would go to the places I was heading to! But it made a big difference to get the fear out of my heart, that is so prevalent in western society. And it made a huge difference for my English. This was actually one of my main goals: Learning to speak English really fluently. I achieved this by talking to anybody I would run into. After several days of solitude even I could overcome my social phobia and became outgoing and talkative. And had a lot to tell!My packing list did not contain many items. Some comfortable, lightweight sneakers instead of heavy boots carried me everywhere I wanted, even atop of 3985 m high Wheeler Peak in the midst of the Great Basin in Nevada. Once these were worn out I bought new American ones. A week worth of clothes was enough to carry me in quite a civilized manner through my trip. Anything else one needs when traveling you can get locally, most likely cheaper than at home and you do not have to carry it through the airports. I quickly learned how to do laundry in a coin laundry and had some interesting encounters with the locals there as well. My wardrobe started to look quite different after a while, since things do wear out and some garments are just too practical in the West to not purchase them - and getting laughed at when wearing them at home!Once every week or so sometimes more often, I rented a cheap motel room, mainly for showering and replenishing supplies. Mostly gas: The camper-truck only got some 12 miles to the gallon, so I soon purchased some 4 extra 10 gallon gas cans I dutifully kept full. I was not to waste my water supply in the desert for showering, which would not bother anybody out there! For entertainment I only had a stone age institution called AM radio! Nowadays only old-timers probably know what that is! At night, these airwaves will travel much further and one can catch stations from hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. I would listen to talk shows that seemed quirky and outright weird, tons of country music - and in the Southwest - original mariachi sound from Mexico, almost like a call from distance about what my future would hold .When planning for such a trip one should always make sure to know beforehand, what the goals of that adventure should be. For me it was going to be the outdoors. There is no "right" way to travel a country. It should feel right for you. So if you are not the urban type, do not hesitate to drive around the big city highlighs. I would like to add a little commercial on this behalf: Europe makes a great place for the avid outdoor adventurer as well! Forget Paris, Rome London and Berlin. And trains! Rent yourself an RV or SUV and buy a tent and go! You always can come back to the cities when older and go to the opera! Instead of talking to the backpacking crowd in smelly hostels talk to party-avid dutch on campgrounds, hikers in Austria and watch people jumping off wearing parachutes from cliffs in the Swiss Alps.I am not in favor of covering a lot of real estate in one trip, not even in 8 months. Of course, one can travel around the globe in 2 months, or cover all of Southeast Asia in 6, but I wanted detail! Travel-books and guides always seem to concentrate on places where everybody is heading anyway, and most country specific info is worthless, since it is opinion gained through short stays mostly. Of course it would be foolish not to visit well-known, spectacular places like Grand Canyon only because a few other people do that, too, but one might not do there what all these other people do, or you find yourself in an amusement park, not in nature. Talking of these, if you are to be only once in the U.S. plan to go to one of them and have fun! There is probably nothing more American than a good amusement park such as Six Flags or Disney. Even the smaller ones and county fairs are charming places to meet intersting folks from all walks of life. Apple pie you will get just as delicious in Switzerland!So here is a short list of places I would recommend to visit when traveling the American West! Do not look here for the well known places. I do strongly recommend to go there, too, but if you do, take your time and go hiking to the backcountry and enjoy Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon and all other great parks.Baja California! On the road of course. 3 weeks for all, going down to the tip and back up. This is a cactus enthusiast dream come true. Here I was testing out my vehicle on the dirt track side roads and got lucky when I was invited to a (successful) Marlin fishing trip as the lacking fourth man.Big Bend National Park in Texas! This is not your ranching and oil type of Texas everybody seems to know. Great hiking, if you know, what you are doing! Go there in spring, when cacti are in bloom, the show is best during a strong El Niño like 1987. And likely 2016. Spectacular desert bloom, you will see plants that show up only every 10 years! This place is so huge, you might have a hard time to meet somebody else once you leave the paved roads.Cataract Canyon. By raft of course! Not as crowded as Grand Canyon and better scenery. In Grand Canyon, the rocks of the Inner Gorge you are heading through are mostly grey or buff. In Cataract Canyon they are brick-red like Monument Valley. While waiting for your trip to start visit fabled Burr Trail, Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Park. That would keep you busy for a month!Hiking down the Grand! From lesser crowded North Rim. It might sound unreal, but I went down to the river and back up in one day, since all camping spots were taken and you would have to sign up months ahead. 18 hours for 14 miles- something like 22 km down and yes, up also!I started at 6:00 A.M and made it back around midnight. Yes, it is difficult to hike the North Kaibab Trail at night, but all these stars actually allow you to see more than any city dweller would think. Needless to say that a was barely able to limp for 2 days after this. I spent them gazing down the abyss like everybody else and having some apple pie! Impossible you say? Not if you served in the Swiss Army. Since it is still a conscript army, like a militia, they do not have too much to do for you other than marching. 50 km with full load, gun and all. Uphill of course. I did many many more hikes during my stay. Down the Grand I only took my camera stuff, some water and canned tuna with bread and chocolate, which you better eat before noon.Then I was visiting some real estate of the devil! He seems to have a playground, a golf course and a corn field over there in California! The best time to visit would be mid July! At least if your goal is to at least once experience 50 degree C plus heat! These three, four weeks were all sand, rocks, limitless horizons, incredible displays of stars - and heat. Lots of it. Intense, unrelenting heat. No, it does not get cold in deserts at night! It does cool off - from 50 degree C to 30 at dawn. Good luck getting some sleep, but after a few weeks, I was used to it. Personal heat record: 52 degree C at Badwater, where I camped out on the salt flat. This was against the rules even back then, but I parked on the roadside and headed out after nightfall and would not turn on any light - and stayed for the next day.Black Rock and Smoke Creek Deserts before there was a Burning Man Festival. Camping out in the middle of that enormous salt flat. Then a scenery from an alien world when reaching Pyramid Lake. Still more desert to cover in the Snake River plain of Idaho and Oregon with its enormous lava fieldsCamping out atop of Steens Mountain, southeastern Oregon close to 10000 ft above sea level. Not a light in view for hundreds of miles. Added a trip up to "Hat Point", a fire lookout where one could gaze down Snake River Canyon, the deepest Canyon in all of North America. It even tops Barranca Sinforosa in Sinaloa! I never saw that many trees for my entire life after that.King of Arizona ("KofA") wildlife Preserve in southwestern Arizona and one of my favorites: Anza Borrego State Park in California. The first is a Cactus nerd paradise and the latter can be summed up as a showcase of most North American deserts, since there seems to be something from all five desert regions.Since many of these sights are more or less "around" Las Vegas, I used this place as a Base Camp, when in need of cheap and still stylish accomodations, wanted to replenish supplies, fix the truck and most of all: feast on the cheap casino buffets they still had going back then. No gambling, no shows and no..... you get the idea! Once a nerd always a nerd! But the lights at nighttime are fun to watch, as well as all these people, mostly dressed up far more better than me.Lots of dust and not much fun?Sure thing! But I cherished this abundance of quality "alone time". Better by yourself than in bad company! Like I pointed out, I avoided big cities. These seemed to me always to be pretty much the same all over the western world. Cultural things like concerts, museums and such I still will manage being old. Grand Canyon probably not. But on my way I ran into quite a few interesting folks, like retirees in their RV's in Quartzsite, Arizona. A Mormon elder who invited me to Sunday Bible class, who was about my age and had no fewer than 6 children. "You do not know what a shepherd is? Don' you read your Bible?" I accepted but did not converse, though! Then folks in a diner somewhere in Nevada discussing ardently about the Iran Contra hearings, not Area 51, which was close by but not on anybody's radar back then. I spent sometimes hours having very rewarding discussions, storytelling and the like. Through this I got to like the American people in general, even when that was politically not correct in the Reagan years in Europe, who was adoring Mr Gorbachov back then. I still profit from this not having to fall back into stupid stereotypes about the " Religious right" "The Liberals from the Left coast" and the like. But often, several days in a row would pass without having met a single human being.This brings me to the final results of the trip: First a little warning: Do not expect big changes in your life only because you travel! You might travel for years and still remain who you are. And that was fine with me. I finally was feeling ok with myself.At least, it did NOT make me into a better person, but gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I learned how to change a tire without using a jack, learned how to do basic car repair, and how to navigate on foot through pathless desert wilderness without getting lost. I learned to withstand the dry desert heat with very little water, a trait that was not going to do me any good in moist Switzerland. I still can tell time from the position of the stars at night, even the season. And I can outwit most weathermen when it comes to forecasting the weather for 1 or 2 days. And sure, my English improved enough to land an excellent lab job just some two weeks after returning in November 1987. More importantly, I found out that I unexpectedly had certain leadership qualities, which I could use in my career. I brought back some 1200 slides which I just recently had digitalized to conserve them, since they eventually will fade. Also, I improved greatly on my barbecue skills, as well as cooking in general. I also might add that I was never sick in all these months, once I nursed myself through a pretty bad case of Moctezumas Revenge on Good Friday down in Loreto, Baja California - with all drug stores closed! At least church was open. It might have helped even though I was not practizing any religion back then. At least I was back the following day. But most importantly, I found out, that I would be able to comfortably live on my own. I felt well drifting through all those small towns, becoming the equivalent of a nerdy Lone Ranger. And a nerd I was, long before the term got even part of popular culture! For those who know the Big Bang Theory-Show: I had the "irresistible" good looks of Howard, could talk to girls (and know about stars) like Raj and could be annoying like Sheldon! By age 20, I knew that I was not popular with girls, and with 25, I stopped worrying about this. My heart and body was as virgin and sterile as the Black Rock Desert Salt-Flat! And if this was going to stay this way that would be fine with me! I came back and soon enough I was back into my habit of one gallon of beer per day, which I did not think to be a problem back then, as long as I would be stone sober in my lab at 7:30 sharp.But maybe somebody who really knows about North America's deserts would notice something! I was bragging about how I knew all of the desert regions of North America! And why no word about the Mexican sections? Yes, I had left some unfinished business! But no more Mexico for me without adequate language skills! I found that out the hard way down in the more remote sections of Baja California, specially when becoming sick. And mainland Northern Mexico was a much tougher place to travel, according to hearsay! So upon getting back I signed up for Spanish classes and started filling up my bank account. 6 weeks would be enough to at least get an idea about the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts in Mexico; all my vacation days and holidays smartly combined I was to receive in my new job I would not quit. 1989 I was ready. I would set the trip up exactly the same way as the big one 2 years ago.Going it alone was a must - since nobody from my left-leaning friends wanted to come along, even when I now would travel to a "politically correct" country! But long hikes through rocky deserts full of spiny plants? A train ride down a 6000 ft deep canyon? You gotta be nuts! And again Baja just for taking some pictures of weird plants you messed up during the first visit? But this was how I planned it to make it happen - and I fully expected to bring this plan to fruitition, no matter what. Contrary to the U.S. Trip I did read something about Mexico before, but no travel literature. Northern Mexico was uncharted territory back then, there was only spotty, stereotypical info. But I already knew that Mexico was not a western country. So I got curious. I wanted to know how people were ticking there. So I got myself a book from fabled Mexican essayist and Noble Prize winner Octavio Paz. "The Labyrinth of Solitude" and took it with me. It would have a profound influence about I was going to look at things - and myself.Instead of a camper, I rented myself a Volkswagen Bug, crimson red. I had a hell of a time to convince the clerk that I wanted this small thing. I knew what I was doing. These vehicles do not need radiator water, are high clearance and quite good on the dirt track - and lightweight enough to get it easily out of the sand when getting stuck, even all by yourself. And if you park it on a hill, you get it running even with a dead battery! And it was cheap, of course. I quickly found out that my spanish was not nearly as good as required to negotiate and had to fall back into english. The first 2 weeks went as planned, as a highlight I was able to cross through fabled Zona de Silencio and the forbidding Bolson de Mapimi, the very heart of the Chihuahuan Desert. I spent the days looking at more cacti I ever imagined, classifying them with help of a nature guide, since it was flowering season. But this time things were to be different. In many small places I stayed for the night I was soon the main event and found myself surrounded by curious locals. Mexico is settled quite differently than the U.S. People crowd together in towns and leave the surrounding lands an empty wilderness difficult to get to. Dirt roads always lead somewhere, like a small ranching community or even an active mining town. But once I reached the summit of the Sierra Madre Occidental at some 9000 feet, the whole thing started to go downhill! Not just because I was driving down a extremely winding road through a region known as Espinazo del Diablo! (Devil's Backbone, I was visiting now the guy himself, not just his place) It is easiest described as driving down the Grand Canyon and up again two or three times over. But these canyons were filled with a incredibly spiny thornscrub-vegetation that seemed to be on fire - and this means not just the infernal dry heat. That area actually is known to be the Golden Triangle of Mexico for the kind of agriculture they are running there. Mostly poppies and weed! I missed out on paying a visit to young "Chapo" Guzman, whose home town is found in one of these canyons.Mazatlan proved to be a turning point. No, it was NOT recommended for foreigners to roam downtown Mazatlan by night, even back then. Sinaloa state had a bad rep for drug trafficking and shootouts on broad daylight. But I needed to get my car onto the ferryboat there, and without giving the famous mordida tip to the clerk selling the tickets, being the stubborn Swiss I still am in these matters. Needless to say that I wasted 4 precious vacation days trying to convince an even more stubborn Mexican! The nights went by drinking Pacifico beer with my new friend from the grimy but cheap hotel I was staying, right at the port. He even invited me to his favorite watering-hole, an authentic "Cantina"! This place would instantly declared a federal disaster area, with imminent danger from all sorts of toxic and biological wastes. I felt there like an alien from another planet, but stood my own ordering - and paying for- beer. 20 bottles in a bucket. But what in the world were these two alien creatures doing here?! Beautifully dressed up young girls with carefully applied make up and elaborate hairdos, carrying those heavy buckets with a smiling face! Both could have started a career in acting, modeling or such. They were the fabled "cantineras" my friend did announce beforehand like "They can do more than just serve beer". Luckily I was spared to find out more about this for a just-in-time raid by a bunch of federales! Party over! Better getting searched than to embarrassing myself trying to kiss this young lady! This was getting way too authentic for comfort so I decided to leave and try to get to La Paz by road. That would be 3500 km one-way. In a VW Buggy with no A/C and no divided highways! "Do not pick up any lightly-clad female hitchhikers up there in Sonora" I got a well meant warning as my farewell. No I wouldn't! And I would not drive to La Paz either! So I abandoned this plan and tried to find the only Boojum Tree grove on the Mexican mainland, which was the main reason I wanted to go to Baja. That is how I ended up in Bahia Kino, a place no one knew back then. It was going to be deja-vu all over again! I waited for three days to get on a boat that would carry me to the islands, where my plants were supposed to grow. These days went by drinking beer (other brand at least) with my new skipper friend from the U.S. offering these boating trips. And then the islands were about as lush as Death Valley. But the area as such is by a long way the most intriguing, even beautiful of all North American Deserts and the boating adventure together with an engine failure was very much to my liking, feeling already like a fearless sea-lion! Right until my mate broke his surprise! I was going to attend a special Cinco de Mayo celebration (which in Northern Mexico is not observed) Ladies already invited and instructed, so no need of spanish pickup lines! Only drinking, dancing, kissing and.... a full-grown panic attack! There was no way to escape embarrassment this time. I could either chicken out and thought to be a coward or to make a fool out of myself and known to be a hapless clown!One would think that they would be hard pressed to find 2 regular looking girls willing to meet us two gringos in a village of 5000, but not so. Bahia Kino was sort of a desert Shangri-La back then, no police, no TV, no newspaper! And no restaurants, no clubs and no discos either. But full of gossip! I was already 4 days there. Too much! Who was this gallant young handsome foreigner in that buggy with Chihuahua plates on it? Driving all by himself looking for who knows what? No wedding band and no company! From Europe, as the manager from the bungalows certainly bragged in the cantina, which any town in Mexico has! But finally only one showed, what at first nobody noticed. She was a perfect 10 and she knew it! The way she suddenly stepped out of the porch-shadow into the bright white light of early evening stunned me. Her dress was a little bit like a violet version of the one tiny "Tinker Belle" wears. This fairy did not take my breath away, she made me forget my fear! Then I started to relax: This was going to be my buddy's business who so dearly was looking for a mexican girlfriend here. He asked for her name. Claudia! A very common name for such an unusual creature! I would entertain myself in the meantime with getting an all-you-can eat buffet of eye candy! Not for long, this preying got noticed, of course. We gazed at each other and I could not turn away as usual. She wanted something from me. With the third long gaze she seemed to say "Kiss me!" And I knew she would not budge. I tried to get away with a "dry" kiss. Not gonna happen! Once she got me to touch her lips she took matters into her own hands and showed me how it was done right in front of the other two guys, while we were standing in the bright light of a naked lightbulb in the tightest embrace imaginable. What in the world was that?!? My buddies were both in shock and awe. Claudia looked at me as she just came back from Heavens gate. She just as well might have kissed me to death, since everything would now start falling apart. I was unable to comply with her clearly communicated request for the main course, and she suddenly took off when sensing the sudden souring of the mood of our audience, who was condemned to watch us feasting. A second Troyan war was about to start over her! This all happened without talking anything more with her than a shyly uttered "hola" right before that kiss. But one always meets twice! 4 days later, upon finally leaving town, I spotted her on the side of a dusty road. There was no mistaking her, and I knew that it was over before something could start. Claudia was not only the unchallenged kissing champion of Mexico but likely also a caring mom of a little girl! And I already had betrayed her, which certainly must have been brought back to her! With another girl, just the following two days! This was just too much. I just wanted my old life back and let the buggy run into the open desert. The tank lasts for 400 km, and the dirt road was to be 350 km long before getting to the next station. My goal was to get my senses together up in the Pinacate-Desert. This is the sandiest place of North America, some 10000 sq km of pure sand dunes that get as high as 200 meters. I could have been a trip of no return, and I was close to give up when burying the car into deep sand up to the floor plate! But I remembered my promise I gave to that other girl! Large intense eyes, a face like the full moon! How she shied away from my kissing offer and felt so sorry afterwards. How fluently my Spanish had suddenly become, naming her each of the "Orion" stars! And everything else. We went on for hours. "You are going to write me, arent you? Promise it, please!"This episode did not only change me, it turned me upside down and inside out. I had been totally wrong when it came to girls, for 12 years since I first noticed the difference between boy and girl. If these two did go for me, then anyone would! I wanted to find out if it was true. Once back home I did engage into the promised letter conversation. 6 weeks of waiting time for every answer! No messenger, facebook or e mail back then. We soon added hourlong, very expensive long distance phone calls after I moved suddenly out from home. And we declared our love to each other right around the time when in Berlin that fabled wall came down - without me giving it a single care. Another 14 hour-plane trip was set up for March 1990, 6 more weeks of vacation. After that, we not only had married (only the two of us attended) but also had taken out a mortgage and bought a car! We only went back to Switzerland to quit my job, to sell everything I had and to even take my pension funds with me. We did some honeymooning through Europe and soon bid farewell to parents, family and friends. I was going to live my dream alongside the most beautiful Flower of the desert, since that is what her name would be in English. Flor.Up there in Northern Mexico, in a place that much later would be known the world over, Ciudad Juarez! It was going to be a 21 year rollercoaster ride of the wildest kind. Until we figured that 4 years of enduring the notorious drug war there was enough.So there you have it! This traumatic experience did actually made me into somebody else, better. Almost as if I starting to live a second life. I would not work in science ever again, but went into translations, industrial engineering, even H.R. as head of Technical Training department. I now was very comfortable with people and public talking - and flirting with the girls. This was of course not well received by my young wife and I soon had to fall back to some long forgotten techniques. But keeping your marital promises in Ciudad Juarez during the Nineties was no task for the faint-hearted. But if I do give out a promise, it is not broken!