I don’t think many people on the centre and right realise just how good our PM is at Question Time.
Not only has she an impressive, a really impressive command of detail across many portfolios, she also has a witty tongue: for example, her parting shot –
"I could speak at great length about what we have done in office to repair the damage of that time in office by the National Party, so if the member wants to ask more patsies, I would welcome it."
If the election in ’23 was based purely on the merit of the debating skill of Jacinda and Luxon, there would be no contest.
Unfortunately, blind adherence on failed Chicago School economics means that the emotional and empty appeal of ‘tax cuts’ and ‘more money in the pockets of hard-working kiwis' will still be a factor.
TBF, Robertson and Ardern are both adherents of that same failing neo-liberal experiment. Just a nicer spin put on it
I would love to see this new Health Authority ditch the sub-contracting model favoured by the current DHB's and bring most roles- security, meals, grounds, laundry, in-house.
Luxon got a serve from the PM who said she would not be lectured by a party (on new house builds) which built only 100 houses in 9 years and instead sold off state houses.
She also reminded the House that National had children living in cars during last time in office.
We must remember back to those times as to what National was like in its last term in office, and then consider how they would have dealt with pandemics and the other crises and issues which have come up since 2017.
Then, having considered all that, ponder how bad it will be for us if National get back into office.
I have, and I'm back into helping out in the party organisation, to work to get this government re-elected. I'd sincerely ask that all Standardistas do the same, in whatever party suits their style.
Alwyn, you obviously didn't watch or listen. So why such a question?
If you had watched, then you would have known that 1. she handled her questioners with skill and knowledge (if that is what you mean by 'scripted 🙂 ) and 2. she has now twice challenged Luxon to debate with her, 'toe to toe' today, and guess what? Luxon did not stay for or participate in the general debate.
I am sure that Luxon would be able to point out the truth of her statements. I mean, he’s really good at deadpan reading out of prepared questions……
Alwynm I first read your OIA requst and thought I must have misheard ot misremembered the PM's words in Q1 yesterday. I didn't. What I quoted was correct. That is what the PM said.
You have produced a document that refutes that. Your argument therefore is with the PM.
looking at the figures in the OIA request, provided in July 2019, Labour built 2801 houses in six years from 2002-2008. National built 2953 state houses in 9 years 2008-17.
Total state housing stock fell from a high of 69,489 in 2010, to 67,245 in 2015 and down to 64,607 in 2019.
Figues from Kainga Ora for 31/12/21 state that 68,459 bedrooms have been provided by KO mostly state rentals, but also Lease, Community group and transitional housing.
Like is difficult to compare with like. I presume that the OIA figures refer also to total bedroom numbers, as do the 2021 figures.
So, numbers have come back up to within 1030 of the 2010 high.
Putting aside Ardern's figures, there is a clear case to be made by the figures that you supplied and followed by the 2021 figures that numbers of state provided housing had dropped under National and have climbed back to 1000 by the end of 2021 and presumably have improved in 2022.
Not really. It is now quite a long time since I did argue with a PM and then it was on the basis of "Yes Prime Minister but with respect I suggest that………..".
That was quite a number of years ago and I am not talking about anyone in the last decade or two.
I now don't have to be extremely polite and I can describe her as I think she is, a liar. I wouldn't consider saying that " she handled her questioners with skill and knowledge" when was she did was lie.
I also wouldn't say "I am sure that Luxon would be able to point out the truth of her statements". The word you should be using is not "truth" by the way. It is "untruth" and it is actually not easy for him to do that. The rules of the House don't allow you to say, or even hint, that she is lying. The mad duck in the chair will kick you out.
I am disappointed these days in how people are so eager to accept things she says as being gospel. They aren't.
Alwyn, was there any follow up reaction from the opposition to the PM's figures?
I did hear on ThursdayQuestion Time Minister Megan Woods say something along the lines of if National while in government had built houses in the same volume as did Labour then there would be 22000 more houses today and that therefore 85% of the current waiting list would have been already housed.
Follow up? Not that I know of and I don't think they would try if they couldn't do it instantly. I doubt that anyone would have both picked it up instantly and actually known what the answer would be on the spot. After all it had nothing to do with any of the questions they had been asking at the time.
You couldn't really bring it up now. Try thinking of a question that would be in line with the rules. If they didn't want to say anything Trevor would simply rule a question out of order on the grounds that "The PM is not responsible for the actions of the previous Government".
As for Woods remark! What is that meant to mean. I suppose National could ask whether she really thought National was to blame because they didn't allow for how terrible their successors were going to be? It might be accurate but again Trevor would say she wasn't responsible and shut them off.
It does sound like a pretty stupid comment from Woods though doesn't it?
"One of the points of both sadness and frustration for us as a Government, however, is that we are making up for the squandered opportunities of the previous Government. Not only did they end up with 1,500 fewer houses than they started with, but if they had built at the same rate as we did, there would be over 22,000 more public houses in New Zealand today, accounting for 85 percent of the current waiting list. So while we are pulling every lever, unfortunately we are playing catch-up for the gutting of public housing by the previous National Government."
Alwyn, I've just read your reply to McFlock on Daily Review and what you said is so accurate. With appropriate revisions you wrote, "I think you will find that this is simply alwyn saying he doesn't like Labour or its leader." How perspicacious.
Good, that means now there is evidence that is more then just some grainy photos.
And that means that with evidence at hand charges can be laid. Properly. As for war yes, war is repellent. The war in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and so on and so forth. All repellent and all full of various atrocities against humans by humans.
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war – and that includes Nato and the US/UK/"free western world".
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war
At present it is clear from their actions that neither the Russian nor Chinese regimes are in the least interested in this. As long as this remains the case then you need to distinguish between weakness and appeasement – and strength and deterrence.
If you genuinely want to prevent war, then I have written to this many times over the years here – but no-one ever shows any interest.
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war
At present it is clear from their actions that neither the Russian nor Chinese regimes are in the least interested in this…….
Just as you say Red, the Russian and Chinese regimes, may be least interested in stopping war, but neither were the Americans in Vietnam.
But that interest in war can be changed.
"1,2,3,4, We don't want your bloody war"
"2,4,6, 8, Stop the killing, Stop the hate"
America lost interest in prosecuting the war in Vietnam, not just because the US army got bogged down in the jungles of South East Asia, but because of a powerful anti-war protest movement in America.
The same thing could happen in Russia.
Thousands Detained At Anti-War Protests Across Russia
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war – and that includes Nato and the US/UK/"free western world".
Agree, though one should include the UN and it’s member states, as they had the chance to address the legitimate concerns that Russia had and has regarding security issues, but instead of debating these concerns they chose to cave in to the US and it’s war diseased machine called NATO that the war mongers on this site clearly follow.
Instead of trying to deflect, minimise, and justify this situation, how about you and Sabine actually expressing revulsion for what is actually happening right now, without qualification.
Really, Byd0nz, someone who tacitly tries to justify what Russia is doing in Ukraine is more of a war monger than anyone else who posts here as it is lending support for Russia's aggression.
Nowhere on any of my comments have I supported Putin, I have however expressed the hope that with the next Russian election, the people vote in the second most popular party, one that has been consistently against this war, that is the Communist Party. Let’s hope this comes to fruition.
If the communist party is against the war, I actually hope they do get into power in Russia. As much as communism is an anathema to me, they certainly can't be worse than the current situation.
Do you seriously believe that Putin has any chance of losing given his ubiquitous control of everything in Russia? What do you think of the chance of "free and fair" elections over there?
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation strongly condemns the heinous joint provocation of Ukrainian and Western politicians and demands a comprehensive thorough investigation not of staged fakes, but of numerous real crimes of Nazi Bandera, including the brutal torture of Russian military personnel.
I don’t know if it will be the end of the Putin Regime, but let’s just wait and see how the voters react.
despite GI Joe’s 2pence worth, the Communist Party believes in dialogue in the first instance to avoid conflicts, something NATO and the UN fail to grasp.
despite GI Joe’s 2pence worth, the Communist Party believes in dialogue in the first instance to avoid conflicts, something NATO and the UN fail to grasp.
First time I've ever heard someone claim the UN doesn't do enough talking
Another thoughtful article on the atrocities being committed in the Ukraine, but many minds are closed.
Byd0nz, you should know by now that you can't deviate a mm from the mainstream line without being called a putin supporter, or being called on Whataboutism
"Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
The allegations at Bucha and western foreign policy
It would of course, be morally wrong and deeply inappropriate to write off these allegations at face value. It is true that such claims should be taken seriously, investigated properly and be treated with the sensitivity they deserve especially in respect to the victims. However, at the same time the scenes of shock, outrage and repulsion in the western political discourse make a proper assessment of these events of course impossible at least in the short term. Undeniably so, the insight cannot be dismissed that such allegations are being politicized on a grand scale and even if not unfounded, are being utilized as a means of war propaganda. What has seemingly happened cannot be condoned if true, but one should always be mindful of the tactics which the West uses.
thanks for that link and have read it and I do understand your comment below
Byd0nz, you should know by now that you can't deviate a mm from the mainstream line without being called a putin supporter, or being called on Whataboutism
"Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
All to true, these people seem to misread the point one is making which backs up the above statement.
Thank you for patiently this ts in a patient manner I could not have without invoking the wrath of Incog. You have done a fantastic job on Ukraine generally.
My answer to the Russia apologists here is simple – on Feb 24 when Putin ordered his military over the Ukrainian border – he was from that moment on accountable for all blood, brutality and chaos that would inevitably flow. Everything else is semantics.
Thanks for the nice comments Red. You have been making great comments as well.
I think it is important that we counter the sort of narrative that Russian apologists put up because I think it is a concerted strategy to minimise what is going on.
You might enjoy this guy who is part of the military in Kiev. He gives regular short videos on the situation.
In the video the link above connects with, he does a short Q & A video. He responds to a question from someone who identifies as a poor student who has nothing to contribute financially, but wants to know what he can do to help.
The response given is that the student could look out for Russian misinformation and advised of several sites the student could report the misinformation so that it could be taken down.
I know you are right of centre and I am left of centre tsmithfield, but I have found your posts here helpful. It shows there are many facets of life where there is no real disagreement between us.
It is disappointing Helen Clark lost her campaign to become UN Secretary General. No disrespect to the incumbent, but Helen planned to overhaul that bureaucracy and give it more teeth than it appears to have these days. That just might have helped to avoid the more horrific aspects of this war:
It looks increasingly like the Russian will make some gains in the Donbas, seize Mariupol, declare victory, end active hostilities and sometime in the future annex all occupied territory to Russia after a fake plebiscite. They'll use their nuclear arsenal to threaten anyone who dares to challenge the de facto post bellum outcome of this war.
The current Russian strategy now appears to be if the troublesome Ukrainians insists on not being "de-Natzified" and fighting furiously then they'll make sure it has no industry or economic base left when the active fighting stops.
They'll then keep Ukraine fighting a low intensity, debilitating war in the east of their country designed to forever keep the country poor and leave the West to fume in public and rebuild energy and money laundering links in private. Whether or not Putin will still be around is an open question. If they can brazen it out he might hang on, or it may be convenient for the authoritarian oligarchs who run Russia to organise a coup and replace him with someone else so everyone can blame him and the west can move on with a new leader in the Kremlin, "someone they can work with."
But there is no way under any scenario Russia will let it's generals or soldiery be put on trial in any western court for crimes committed in the Ukraine.
However, it is not a slam dunk that this will happen:
Firstly, the performance of the Ukranian military, the poor performance of the Russians, and the horror at the atrocities in Bucha is motivating the West to provide the heavy weaponary Ukraine needs to defeat the Russians (along with bountiful donations from the Russians themselves.
For instance, the Czechs are providing tanks to Ukraine. The British is looking to provide anti-ship missiles so Ukraine can defend against the Russian ships firing cruise missiles. And I have also seen reports that the US is trying to facilitate the supply of weaponary the Ukranians know how to use.
Secondly, waging war is expensive. This is where sanctions will start to bite in a big way so far as Russia's ability to sustain the fight for the long haul. Especially if Ukraine is provided with weapons that can cause them major damage.
Finally, Another problem is that Russia is increasingly finding it difficult to replace the weapons they are using because a lot of the components are made in Ukraine. Ukraine is naturally unwilling to supply those components at the moment.
The chief outcome of this war will be to expose Russia as an aggressive second class power with an outsized legacy nuclear arsenal of limited practical use that is a threat to all it's smaller neighbours but completely unable to compete with other first class powers.
Putin’s miscalculation means he has reinvigorated NATO, got the world cheering German rearmament and paved the way for a wider anti-Russian alliance in eastern Europe.
His only friend of substance will be China, and that will be a relationship akin to that of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian empire to the Germans in the Great War – the shots will be called in Beijing.
Yes, I have said in previous posts that Russia just ends up as a vasal state for China out of this.
I think Putin is so obsessed with Ukraine, and is overly focused on the short-term objective of not being seen to lose. But what ever happens, he has lost strategically. Russia will never be a great power again after this.
Ad, you may be looking forward to Russian military leaders being put on trial. In addition to this, some of us want to see the US put on trial for the millions of people whose existence is being threatened by the starvation and the deliberate denial of life saving drugs. These sanctions are imposed without UN approval and enforced by the US and its proxies. Such sanctions are without doubt WAR CRIMES and like the alleged war crimes in Ukraine are ruthless. One can only assume that the western world turns a blind eye because the victims are not blue eyed Europeans.
You might also consider which parts of the world have no skin in the NATO/Russian confrontation but will be consigned to premature deaths in the pile on to impose sanctions.
Make sure that you take it easy Ad. The fatigue stage is something else that has to be experienced to fully understand.
On the subject of visual entertainment can I recommend a 2019 English comic drama. "years and years". Not sure if it is on Netflix but it is on dvd and maybe the library has a copy. Our local library here has it. It's very topical including refugees from Ukraine, and really good for political tragics such as us on TS. One of the teenagers communicates with her parents through a digital filter, and thinks that she is trans – transhuman and wants to become digital data.
He says that it should be 57 for Maori and I think he has a point however
"• The gap between Māori and non-Māori period life expectancy has fluctuated, but over the
long term narrowed. For the period 2012-14, period life expectancy at age 65 for Māori men
was 15.4 years, and women 17.5 years. The non-Māori figures were 19.1 and 21.6 years,
implying a gap for that period of 3.8 years for men and 4.1 years for women"
Now of course there are more ways to divide a population than by race I would be very confident to wager a fair portion of my puny wealth that rich people live longer than poor people and the same for disabled versus the abled. But as the co-leader of a race based party I can see why his priorities appear to be only for Maori outcomes. .
But it's not just the Māori Party … ethnic-based preferential treatment is very much the goal of Labour & Green Party elites & activists, heavily influenced by Critical Race Theory & its various bastardized ideological manifestations … (the doctrinal maxims handed down by Archbishops DiAngelo, Kendi, Applebaum, Coates & so on) …
A highly, highly selective 'equity' … in which poorer Pakeha, Asians & other non-Polynesians are outrageously labelled "privileged" & systematically scapegoated into second-class citizenship, largely by stealth … with all the dire health consequences, lifestyle degradation & early death that that process entails.
Quite possibly an inevitable corollary of an ultimately self-interested Professional Upper-Middle Class capture of the 'Left'.
I would be happy enough to offer a reduced pension from 60 if a) it was means tested and b) normal super payments kicked in at a slightly older age, like 67 or 68.
It's a big thank you to Ashley Bloomfield, he has achieved his opus magnum in public health and bigger, but perhaps not as important, stations are calling him after a well deserved break. He departs a hero of public health practitioners everywhere and one would imagine almost any public health related job he wishes will be his for the picking.
I wonder what the bookies are offering on Ashley Bloomfield being on the Labour party list in 2023? Andrew Little does little except be grumpy, Jacinda may need a genial new health minister.
Anyway, if he isn't doing politics it'll be arise Sir Ashley come new year mark my words.
Well said Sanctuary. Having a Sir Ashley would be a very welcome and well deserved honour, as opposed to, the all too often party donor business troughers.
AFAICR, when he was asked the question, about whether he'd like to be a politician, the answer was very much in the negative.
I don't think he has any ambitions at all for a 'public' life after the last 2.5 yearrs.
Ad, tsmithfield and others: can you explain why the U.K is delaying a meeting of the UN Security Council?
Nebenzia & co have have put out information contrary to the official western/Ukrainian line. Is it not in the best interests of us all to test the evidence presented in both narratives?
Trying to read UNSC politics right now is next to impossible with Russia toxic to all but China, French Presidential elections days away, and all the current non-permanent members studiously avoiding strong support of Europe right now.
why the U.K is delaying a meeting of the UN Security Council?
Because they’re complicit in the NATO proxy war using Ukraine as a pawn to topple Russia, this being a last ditch attempt to keep the West as the drivers of World Order.
they are pouring tax payers money in weaponry to keep their war going at the same time ignoring the well being and infrastructure badly needed by those tax paying vassals.
Wow mate you excel yourself – so this is a NATO proxy war designed to topple Russia dam those NATO guys are so clever getting Ukraine to attack and invade Russia …oh hang on a minute….
I hope the way the business sector and National/Act have prioritised their selfish demands over the health and well-being of people has not contributed to Ashley Bloomfield deciding to step down. Their constant lack of backing up and support for his recommendations would not have made his job easy. His calm, intelligent demeanour has been amazing in the midst of all that has been thrown at him to deal with.
On the same day, 2 April 2022, the head of Kiev’s territorial defense, Sergei Korotkikh, nicknamed Botsman (who fought in the neo-Nazi Azov regiment), publishes several videos of the work of ‘his guys’. In the second video of his post, at 6 seconds you can clearly hear one of the guys asking if he can shoot the “men who don’t have blue armbands” (Ukrainian army armbands). To which his commander (Botsman) replies positively.
Interesting that the guys in the "torture cellar," and some of those with their hands tied on the road, have visible white armbands(signalling non hostility to the Russian military in a Russian occupied area)
Also has a video of war victims being buried in a mass grave outside the church.The video makes clear the dead are the victims of bombing from round about the 13th March, and says there are about 67 people buried
Someone recommended Meduza as being reliable(read a pro western outlet …thought they'd been banned)
Finally, to complete the picture, in an interview given to the media outlet Meduza (classified as a foreign agent in Russia), a woman living in Bucha and a member of the territorial defense (so not a pro-Russian), says herself that “the people lying on Yablonskaya died because of chaotic shooting”, and she does not report any cases of Russian soldiers shooting civilians during the time they controlled the city. Rather odd.
So, to my mind , the Russians are in the wider sense, responsible for the carnage , by initiating the war , but they have not perpetrated all the deaths themselves by a long way., and I am highly suspicious of those deaths where the victims are wearing white armbands and have their hands tied behind their backs.
Stephen D – Is bringing the issue to the Security Council about holding "Putin or anybody" accountable or about trying to establish the truth of the matter?
Russia has said it's a false flag and they have evidence to that effect. I don't know if that's true or false. Do they have the right to be heard or don't they?
The resignation of Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield has spooky weirdness to it.
He has nothing to go to. ie lost half a mil a year with not so much as a Director's appointment.
He's centre and middle of the largest health restructure we've ever done, which he's leading, and none of it's ready except the Maori entity Board appointments.
He's leaving when the pandemic remains the highest it's been in the entire two years.
He did not see his own term out, nor the political term, nor have a successor in place for the Number 1 King job. Surely it would have been his for the taking.
The thanks from the Prime Minister was sweet but brief and his own Minister Little has said nothing.
And now there's this. The Treasury has just released its Investor Confidence Review into the Ministry of Health which collapsed into a D rating. The DHB's which Bloomfield had had ripped apart by his attack dog Lester Levy all actually were shown to be strong and should not have been attacked. There go the careers of the key leaders of Waitemata, Auckland, Counties Manukau, and Canterbury. No need to wonder why key managers don't want to stay in Health here.
This is all set out in rigorous detail over three posts by Ian Powell previous Exec Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. Each of them is detailed and worth the time to read. This degree of sustained bureaucratic knifing is rarely exposed.
Treasury's evaluation results of Bloomfield's Departmental performance are all in black and white here, also going through all key Departments and all DHBs.
Granted we will see more blood spilled as all those DHB Board directors really air out their dirty laundry one by one.
Like Ardern, Bloomfield looks like he was great in a crisis but when that started to wear off the truth of his actual operation has come out.
I doubt too much more will come out from around him as his immediate circle will all be angling for the jobs that are in contest now, including his own.
I would imagine all the failings you describe Ad could be attributed to one Chai Chuah the previous Director General. Didn't we dodge a bullet by not having a National appointed accountant in charge of health in the time of a pandemic.
I think he's burned out. Do you recall the interview (about a year into the pandemic) where he spoke of the stress he felt carrying the burden of responsibility in those first hectic months? And the pressure hasn't let up. That takes a toll.
I could see it in Chris Hipkins as well at the end of last year. I suspect many people throughout health and government are feeling drained, to say the least.
Basically, after reading the links and then the previous posts in the DB link, I still have no idea what the dude is one about, let alone whether an alleged "coup" in one DHB is enough to be a career-ending debacle.
But I suspect that the DG-Health job has been a particularly tough one over the last couple of years (in both workload and responsibility), and as a still-registered doctor I doubt Bloomfield will be on the dole queue any time soon.
I think you can be rid of just 'suspecting' the job has been tough one. Two more senior people are finishing too.
I see Dr Caroline McElnay, director of public health, has commuted from Napier for five years.
They certainly have done their best for the public in unbelievably difficult times. The difficulties of the circumstances were beyond the ken of most of the cretins they were serving. Whose lives they helped save.
No doubt there'll be scuttlebutt, speculation and conspiracy theories about why they're resigning. Naturally enough Ardern, Hipkins and Little will be accused of all sorts of things. And blamed.
Maybe, but apparently the previous 3 Director-Generals of Health also didn't finish their 5 year terms, so it would almost be more unusual if he did finish the term.
Christchurch has introduced changes to Airbnb et al.Often council changes have negative outcomes for many (cost plus) here this will provide positive outcomes while disadvantaging few.
With over 2000 units in CHCH city,for short stay accommodation ,unconsented and paying residential rates (and probably residential insurance etc) not meeting the requirements of the building act,these units have an unfair disadvantage over entrenched accommodation providers.
The possible outcomes are an increased rating income for CHCH,from existing inventory for those who remain.
Even a minor change in inventory use will have a large outcome in CHCH,say for example if we see 10% become available on the rental market,this will be a 25% increase in rental listings,and if 10% become available on the housing market that increases inventory by 5%.
Accommodation (motels etc) is around 35% down at present in CHCH,so there will be no short term constraints.
Nationwide it would have substantive benefits ( without a single nail being used)
The significance of this purchase that Poland had been reluctant to give its current Soviet era tanks and Migs unless they could be upgraded by the US. So, this deal suggests Poland may release its older stuff to Ukraine.
Looks like that is happening now, so Ukraine could soon have a major boost for ejecting the Russians
As part of the modernization of its military, Poland is also buying US-made F-35 stealth fighter jets in a deal signed in 2020. Those 32 warplanes are scheduled to begin arriving in Poland in 2026.
"Ukrainian soldiers reporting having found boxes of condoms in destroyed russian IFVs"…..you are off the fucking hook man, you, without even the slightest doubt in your mind, link us to a Ukrainian propaganda TV channel, a place where all opposition political new sources and political parties have been banned, WTF…is your bullshit detector completely broken…or did you turn it off yourself?
I thought this was where serious political debate took place.
Medvedchuk was put under house arrest long before the invasion , and opposition TV was also shut down
Medvedchuk's house arrest started on 13 May 2021. Medvedchuk escaped this house arrest on 28 February 2022, four days after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and went missing. On 8 March 2022 he was deprived of the post of co-chairman of Opposition Platform — For Life.
you really are an ignorant dick head GI Joe. there is no Red Army, there is no Communist Russia.
Maybe with the next election they may make a comeback being the second most popular party by far and with a big swing against Putins version of Capitalism. In the meantime, educate yourself
And if Joe wants to go back to Red Army days, he might like to remind himself of the OUN's slaughter of jews, Poles, and Roma in the second world war, under the leadership of Stepan Bandera.That Bandera who is still revered in Western Ukraine today
I was watching a Real Crime documentary a few days ago on SKY – Catching The Nail Bomber. (It's on Youtube)
Just a Nazi doing Nazi shit.
David Copeland:
"I bomb the blacks, Pakis, degenerates. I would have bombed the Jews as well if I'd got a chance." Ryan writes that Copeland's first idea had been to bomb the Notting Hill Carnival after seeing images of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. When asked by police why he had targeted ethnic minorities, he replied, "Because I don't like them, I want them out of this country, I believe in the master race."
Amnesty International also said it was unable to find evidence for the accusation that the Libyan government had given Viagra to its troops and encouraged them to rape women in rebel-held areas. Then-Secretary of State Clinton, among others, had contributed to this unproven myth.
After Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria, nothing the Russians have done in Ukraine comes as a surprise. And without doubt, you and your ilk's defence and deflection of Russia's crimes makes you complicit in their murderously indiscriminate brutality, cruelty and sexual violence.
Have found the updated (mātauranga Māori inclusive) Curriculum matrix for NCEA Level 6, and posting the link to the page and the pdf here for anyone interested:
I've only briefly looked, but I already have concerns. Substitution of Te Reo Māori phrases and terms where there is no direct translation, thereby muddying language and concepts.
eg. Under Big Idea
(Mauri – 1.(noun) life principle, life force, vital essence, special nature, a material symbol of a life principle, source of emotions – the essential quality and vitality of a being or entity. Also used for a physical object, individual, ecosystem or social group in which this essence is located.)
Mauri is present in all matter. All particles have their own mauri and presence as part of a larger whole, for example within a molecule, polymer, salt, or metal. When matter is broken into smaller particles each particle remains as part of the taiao, for example when a substance is burnt or dissolved the particles remain, with their own mauri. They do not just disappear.
Nah. They've just rediscovered quintessence, or the fifth element, also known as aether.
In this case I guess it would be the ancient Greek version
" Aether – personification of the sky or upper air breathed by the Olympians; son of Erebus and night or of Chaos and darkness. Greek deity – a deity worshipped by the ancient Greeks. "
I doubt if they are really up to the medieval version which was supposed to provide the transmission of em radiation described as
"aether, also known as the fifth element or quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere. The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as the traveling of light and gravity."
Whichever one "mauri" is it is just as mythological and non-scientific as the various forms of "aether" turned out to be.
Meh – a celebrity motoring journalist telling one side of the story – and rather badly at that – Might as well listen to Mike Hosking. Reporting from the Donbas region – large numbers of local casualties. Well you will get that when you rise against your government and provide a springboard for hostile Russian forces.
Are we to take it Adrian, that you are so blind you have no knowledge of the many Ukranians killed in Russia's phony war in Donbas? How about you show us some thus far never demonstrated evenhandedness and learn those numbers – or are we to suffer your pathetic pandering to Putin ad nauseum as usual?
13000 killed and 30 000 wounded as of 2019 – since we all know that you are too pathetic a Putin worshipping fascist to look for those numbers yourself.
[This is getting far too personal, again. I don’t want to have to step in and break up shit fights, so why don’t you two stop replying and referring to each other for a few days. Hopefully, this will calm the mind & temper and lower the levels of acrimony between you two – Incognito]
"since we all know that you are too pathetic a Putin worshipping fascist"…..find just one time when I have condoned or defended Putin..you won't you fucking idiot.
I am getting a little tired of your unhinged always slightly hysterical ad hominem attacks on me… I am an easy guy to find on in internet, so why don't you contact me directly, and I will tell my address so you can come here and say that shit right to my face…or is saying this stuff just something you are only brave enough to do online when it doesn't mean nothing…as I suspect it is.
[This is getting far too personal, again. I don’t want to have to step in and break up shit fights, so why don’t you two stop replying and referring to each other for a few days. Hopefully, this will calm the mind & temper and lower the levels of acrimony between you two – Incognito]
However – I have a policy of intolerance of fascists. Popper explains it best:
This Paradox of Tolerance, as it came to be known, argues that intolerant behaviors, irrespective of any judgement of the values that underlie them, ought to be actively fought against in order to preserve an inclusive society.
The Putin dupes are not progressives. They are really only Putin's version of the Hitler Youth. They don't know, and thus can neither argue nor explain a Russian viewpoint.
Instead they resort to whataboutery, a tactic familiar to households with feuding four-year-olds "He did it first", they cry, a tactic that gets short shrift from experienced parents.
The crowning arrogance is for Adrian to complain about being bullied. He or she is proudly championing a genocidal monster, at length, ad nauseum, on a progressive site. I should damned well hope they being bullied – until they desist.
I'd've preferred if that function were undertaken by the Mods – but I don't set the policy.
Thank you. Below is my reply intended for general audience as well.
The kaupapa (aka ‘policy’) of this site is debating not bullying. The couple of Mods around here each have their own areas of expertise and special interest. Moderation is predominantly on poor/bad behaviour and not on content or topic; Mods can only skim the most obvious and blatant offences, because of limited time and because of lack of familiarity with the matter under discussion. This site is as lenient as possible to allow commenters as much freedom to debate each other as they wish.
My advice is not to waste time on closed-minded ‘dupes’ and save your energy for commenters who are genuinely interested in debate even, or rather particularly, when you might not agree with them – debating people with whom you 100% agree is an oxymoron (aka echo chamber).
My suggestion is that we start a new daily post titled 'Special Operations Post for Putin Dick Suckers' and all their posts get moved there – where the rest of us can safely ignore them.
It irks me that TS is wasting pixels on their drivel, but free speech and all.
To me. The USA can do no wrong, fan boys, the ones who say if "you are not for us you are against us", AND the advocates for Putin, can be put in their own thread entitled "Baby Killer" fanboys!
There are people I work with now, who are very worried about relatives involved in several wars. It is not a joke!
I know workers are needed for a range of jobs in the country. In the news today:
"Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi last year launched the 2021 Resident Visa – a one-off pathway to residency for migrants affected by the pandemic.
At the time it was estimated there would be 110,000 applications and 165,000 people would become residents through the scheme, in what was labelled the biggest change to immigration in recent history.
Yet just over halfway into the application process being open, 86,000 applications covering close to 170,000 people have come in – already more than estimated. Applications opened in December and finish at the end of July."
Housing. How will 165,000 people find houses? I’d heard there was a bit of a housing problem.
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Farmers who can’t sleep, worrying they’ll lose everything amid increasing drought. Youth struggling with depression over a future that feels hopeless. Indigenous people grief-stricken over devastated ecosystems. For all these people and more, climate change is taking a clear toll ...
New Zealand’s relationship with China is becoming harder to define, and with that comes a worry that a deteriorating political relationship could spill over into the economic relationship. It is about more than whether New Zealand will join Pillar Two of Aukus, though the Chinese Ambassador, more or less, suggested ...
Been hoping we would see something like this from Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is excellent.The present Bill goes further than the National Development Act 1979 in stripping away procedures designed to ensure that environmental issues are properly considered. The 1979 approach was not acceptable then and this present approach is ...
He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
Brian Eastonwrites – The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
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Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
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Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
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Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
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Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
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New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
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Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
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Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
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I don’t think many people on the centre and right realise just how good our PM is at Question Time.
Not only has she an impressive, a really impressive command of detail across many portfolios, she also has a witty tongue: for example, her parting shot –
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=224240
If the election in ’23 was based purely on the merit of the debating skill of Jacinda and Luxon, there would be no contest.
Unfortunately, blind adherence on failed Chicago School economics means that the emotional and empty appeal of ‘tax cuts’ and ‘more money in the pockets of hard-working kiwis' will still be a factor.
Exactly right Tony V…she is excellent at PMQ. Contrast this with Luxon's chronically bad performance on Radio NZ’s Morning Report this AM.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018837169/ukraine-invasion-luxon-wants-stronger-sanctions-ambassador-expelled
TBF, Robertson and Ardern are both adherents of that same failing neo-liberal experiment. Just a nicer spin put on it
I would love to see this new Health Authority ditch the sub-contracting model favoured by the current DHB's and bring most roles- security, meals, grounds, laundry, in-house.
I'll take results over rhetoric thanks.
Wednesday update: another embarrassing question time for Luxon.
Reading from scripted questions which simply allowed the PM to catalogue the many achievements of her government.
Though, to be fair – maybe the contrast is so marked because Luxon (who used to run an airline, don’t you know) is so appallingly bad.
Luxon got a serve from the PM who said she would not be lectured by a party (on new house builds) which built only 100 houses in 9 years and instead sold off state houses.
She also reminded the House that National had children living in cars during last time in office.
We must remember back to those times as to what National was like in its last term in office, and then consider how they would have dealt with pandemics and the other crises and issues which have come up since 2017.
Then, having considered all that, ponder how bad it will be for us if National get back into office.
I have, and I'm back into helping out in the party organisation, to work to get this government re-elected. I'd sincerely ask that all Standardistas do the same, in whatever party suits their style.
Did she tell the truth in any of her scripted comments?
Alwyn, you obviously didn't watch or listen. So why such a question?
If you had watched, then you would have known that 1. she handled her questioners with skill and knowledge (if that is what you mean by 'scripted 🙂 ) and 2. she has now twice challenged Luxon to debate with her, 'toe to toe' today, and guess what? Luxon did not stay for or participate in the general debate.
I am sure that Luxon would be able to point out the truth of her statements. I mean, he’s really good at deadpan reading out of prepared questions……
You never answered my question did you? Instead you quote some b**s about National building only a 100 houses in 9 years.
The actual figures for their time in office, and I have included the fiscal years from 2009/2010 to 2017/2018 as being their term are as follows.
2009/2010 372. Then for the following years they were 165, 123, 100, 173, 408, 732, 419, and in 2017/2018 841.
!00 homes in 9 years? b**s. So that statement you have quoted was a lie. Were any of the other lines she parroted any closer to the truth?
The numbers are from the bottom of page 3 of this document.
https://kaingaora.govt.nz/assets/Publications/OIAs-Official-Information-Requests/July-2019/OIA-9-July-2019-number-of-state-houss-built.pdf
Alwynm I first read your OIA requst and thought I must have misheard ot misremembered the PM's words in Q1 yesterday. I didn't. What I quoted was correct. That is what the PM said.
You have produced a document that refutes that. Your argument therefore is with the PM.
looking at the figures in the OIA request, provided in July 2019, Labour built 2801 houses in six years from 2002-2008. National built 2953 state houses in 9 years 2008-17.
Total state housing stock fell from a high of 69,489 in 2010, to 67,245 in 2015 and down to 64,607 in 2019.
Figues from Kainga Ora for 31/12/21 state that 68,459 bedrooms have been provided by KO mostly state rentals, but also Lease, Community group and transitional housing.
Like is difficult to compare with like. I presume that the OIA figures refer also to total bedroom numbers, as do the 2021 figures.
So, numbers have come back up to within 1030 of the 2010 high.
Putting aside Ardern's figures, there is a clear case to be made by the figures that you supplied and followed by the 2021 figures that numbers of state provided housing had dropped under National and have climbed back to 1000 by the end of 2021 and presumably have improved in 2022.
citation for the Kainga Ora figures above .https://kaingaora.govt.nz/assets/Publications/Managed-stock/Managed-Stock-December-2021-National-Summary.pdf
I should add, and this compounds the difficulty I am having comparing like with like, is that some 1700 housing 'units' are owned by, but currently untenanted, at 31/12/2021. These possibly should be added to the 'total housing portfolio administered by the state'.
https://kaingaora.govt.nz/assets/Publications/Vacant-properties/Vacant-Stock-December-2021-National-Summary.pdf
" Your argument therefore is with the PM"
Not really. It is now quite a long time since I did argue with a PM and then it was on the basis of "Yes Prime Minister but with respect I suggest that………..".
That was quite a number of years ago and I am not talking about anyone in the last decade or two.
I now don't have to be extremely polite and I can describe her as I think she is, a liar. I wouldn't consider saying that " she handled her questioners with skill and knowledge" when was she did was lie.
I also wouldn't say "I am sure that Luxon would be able to point out the truth of her statements". The word you should be using is not "truth" by the way. It is "untruth" and it is actually not easy for him to do that. The rules of the House don't allow you to say, or even hint, that she is lying. The mad duck in the chair will kick you out.
I am disappointed these days in how people are so eager to accept things she says as being gospel. They aren't.
Alwyn, was there any follow up reaction from the opposition to the PM's figures?
I did hear on ThursdayQuestion Time Minister Megan Woods say something along the lines of if National while in government had built houses in the same volume as did Labour then there would be 22000 more houses today and that therefore 85% of the current waiting list would have been already housed.
Follow up? Not that I know of and I don't think they would try if they couldn't do it instantly. I doubt that anyone would have both picked it up instantly and actually known what the answer would be on the spot. After all it had nothing to do with any of the questions they had been asking at the time.
You couldn't really bring it up now. Try thinking of a question that would be in line with the rules. If they didn't want to say anything Trevor would simply rule a question out of order on the grounds that "The PM is not responsible for the actions of the previous Government".
As for Woods remark! What is that meant to mean. I suppose National could ask whether she really thought National was to blame because they didn't allow for how terrible their successors were going to be? It might be accurate but again Trevor would say she wasn't responsible and shut them off.
It does sound like a pretty stupid comment from Woods though doesn't it?
Alwyn, here is what she said, from Hansard. Question 12.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20220407_20220407_16
"One of the points of both sadness and frustration for us as a Government, however, is that we are making up for the squandered opportunities of the previous Government. Not only did they end up with 1,500 fewer houses than they started with, but if they had built at the same rate as we did, there would be over 22,000 more public houses in New Zealand today, accounting for 85 percent of the current waiting list. So while we are pulling every lever, unfortunately we are playing catch-up for the gutting of public housing by the previous National Government."
That might better explain her point.
Alwyn, I've just read your reply to McFlock on Daily Review and what you said is so accurate. With appropriate revisions you wrote, "I think you will find that this is simply alwyn saying he doesn't like Labour or its leader." How perspicacious.
For those who want to push the Russian narrative that the Bucha attrocities were faked:
1. The atrocities have been geolocated to when the Russians were in control of Bucha.
2. Drone footage showing a Russian tank firing on a civilian walking with a bike in Bucha.
3. This DW report debunking Russian claims about "evidence" of staging.
This situation is absolutely repellant, and probably only the tip of the iceberg I expect.
Good, that means now there is evidence that is more then just some grainy photos.
And that means that with evidence at hand charges can be laid. Properly. As for war yes, war is repellent. The war in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and so on and so forth. All repellent and all full of various atrocities against humans by humans.
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war – and that includes Nato and the US/UK/"free western world".
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war
At present it is clear from their actions that neither the Russian nor Chinese regimes are in the least interested in this. As long as this remains the case then you need to distinguish between weakness and appeasement – and strength and deterrence.
If you genuinely want to prevent war, then I have written to this many times over the years here – but no-one ever shows any interest.
Lol the old "I always you never " line
Just as you say Red, the Russian and Chinese regimes, may be least interested in stopping war, but neither were the Americans in Vietnam.
But that interest in war can be changed.
"1,2,3,4, We don't want your bloody war"
"2,4,6, 8, Stop the killing, Stop the hate"
America lost interest in prosecuting the war in Vietnam, not just because the US army got bogged down in the jungles of South East Asia, but because of a powerful anti-war protest movement in America.
The same thing could happen in Russia.
Maybe next time more effort is spend on actually preventing war – and that includes Nato and the US/UK/"free western world".
Agree, though one should include the UN and it’s member states, as they had the chance to address the legitimate concerns that Russia had and has regarding security issues, but instead of debating these concerns they chose to cave in to the US and it’s war diseased machine called NATO that the war mongers on this site clearly follow.
Instead of trying to deflect, minimise, and justify this situation, how about you and Sabine actually expressing revulsion for what is actually happening right now, without qualification.
Really, Byd0nz, someone who tacitly tries to justify what Russia is doing in Ukraine is more of a war monger than anyone else who posts here as it is lending support for Russia's aggression.
Nowhere on any of my comments have I supported Putin, I have however expressed the hope that with the next Russian election, the people vote in the second most popular party, one that has been consistently against this war, that is the Communist Party. Let’s hope this comes to fruition.
If the communist party is against the war, I actually hope they do get into power in Russia. As much as communism is an anathema to me, they certainly can't be worse than the current situation.
Do you seriously believe that Putin has any chance of losing given his ubiquitous control of everything in Russia? What do you think of the chance of "free and fair" elections over there?
Nah, they're in.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation strongly condemns the heinous joint provocation of Ukrainian and Western politicians and demands a comprehensive thorough investigation not of staged fakes, but of numerous real crimes of Nazi Bandera, including the brutal torture of Russian military personnel.
https://twitter.com/G_Zyuganov/status/1511444400290910213
I don’t know if it will be the end of the Putin Regime, but let’s just wait and see how the voters react.
despite GI Joe’s 2pence worth, the Communist Party believes in dialogue in the first instance to avoid conflicts, something NATO and the UN fail to grasp.
First time I've ever heard someone claim the UN doesn't do enough talking
Another thoughtful article on the atrocities being committed in the Ukraine, but many minds are closed.
Byd0nz, you should know by now that you can't deviate a mm from the mainstream line without being called a putin supporter, or being called on Whataboutism
"Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
The allegations at Bucha and western foreign policy
https://english.dotdotnews.com/a/202204/05/AP624bf362e4b0adad9d2fb2aa.html
thanks for that link and have read it and I do understand your comment below
Byd0nz, you should know by now that you can't deviate a mm from the mainstream line without being called a putin supporter, or being called on Whataboutism
"Whataboutism" – a term created to extract western warmongers from the difficult position of having done All The Bad Things they accuse others of doing. When someone uses it on you, it means you just killed their argument and exposed their moral bankruptcy.
All to true, these people seem to misread the point one is making which backs up the above statement.
thanks for your posts
Crimea river Putin is s nasty meglomaniac
Thank you for patiently this ts in a patient manner I could not have without invoking the wrath of Incog. You have done a fantastic job on Ukraine generally.
My answer to the Russia apologists here is simple – on Feb 24 when Putin ordered his military over the Ukrainian border – he was from that moment on accountable for all blood, brutality and chaos that would inevitably flow. Everything else is semantics.
Thanks for the nice comments Red. You have been making great comments as well.
I think it is important that we counter the sort of narrative that Russian apologists put up because I think it is a concerted strategy to minimise what is going on.
You might enjoy this guy who is part of the military in Kiev. He gives regular short videos on the situation.
In the video the link above connects with, he does a short Q & A video. He responds to a question from someone who identifies as a poor student who has nothing to contribute financially, but wants to know what he can do to help.
The response given is that the student could look out for Russian misinformation and advised of several sites the student could report the misinformation so that it could be taken down.
So, I guess we can all be doing something.
I know you are right of centre and I am left of centre tsmithfield, but I have found your posts here helpful. It shows there are many facets of life where there is no real disagreement between us.
It is disappointing Helen Clark lost her campaign to become UN Secretary General. No disrespect to the incumbent, but Helen planned to overhaul that bureaucracy and give it more teeth than it appears to have these days. That just might have helped to avoid the more horrific aspects of this war:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/464711/ukraine-war-zelensky-tells-un-of-horrors-of-russian-invasion
Thank you Anne. I think there are issues like these that make our differing political perspectives seem quite trivial.
I suppose the BBC can be considered a 'reliable' source of info on the war?
If that is so, this short documentary on a Russian Special Elite force is damning indeed!
I'm looking forward to Russian military leaders being put on trial for this.
It might be a bit easier to identify the direct culprits of this brutality as Anonymous has published the names of the Russian soldiers in Bucha.
It will never happen.
It looks increasingly like the Russian will make some gains in the Donbas, seize Mariupol, declare victory, end active hostilities and sometime in the future annex all occupied territory to Russia after a fake plebiscite. They'll use their nuclear arsenal to threaten anyone who dares to challenge the de facto post bellum outcome of this war.
The current Russian strategy now appears to be if the troublesome Ukrainians insists on not being "de-Natzified" and fighting furiously then they'll make sure it has no industry or economic base left when the active fighting stops.
They'll then keep Ukraine fighting a low intensity, debilitating war in the east of their country designed to forever keep the country poor and leave the West to fume in public and rebuild energy and money laundering links in private. Whether or not Putin will still be around is an open question. If they can brazen it out he might hang on, or it may be convenient for the authoritarian oligarchs who run Russia to organise a coup and replace him with someone else so everyone can blame him and the west can move on with a new leader in the Kremlin, "someone they can work with."
But there is no way under any scenario Russia will let it's generals or soldiery be put on trial in any western court for crimes committed in the Ukraine.
Yes, I am sure that is the Russian plan.
However, it is not a slam dunk that this will happen:
Firstly, the performance of the Ukranian military, the poor performance of the Russians, and the horror at the atrocities in Bucha is motivating the West to provide the heavy weaponary Ukraine needs to defeat the Russians (along with bountiful donations from the Russians themselves.
For instance, the Czechs are providing tanks to Ukraine. The British is looking to provide anti-ship missiles so Ukraine can defend against the Russian ships firing cruise missiles. And I have also seen reports that the US is trying to facilitate the supply of weaponary the Ukranians know how to use.
Secondly, waging war is expensive. This is where sanctions will start to bite in a big way so far as Russia's ability to sustain the fight for the long haul. Especially if Ukraine is provided with weapons that can cause them major damage.
Finally, Another problem is that Russia is increasingly finding it difficult to replace the weapons they are using because a lot of the components are made in Ukraine. Ukraine is naturally unwilling to supply those components at the moment.
Here is a report on the effect of sanctions on the the ability for Russia to keep waging war.
The chief outcome of this war will be to expose Russia as an aggressive second class power with an outsized legacy nuclear arsenal of limited practical use that is a threat to all it's smaller neighbours but completely unable to compete with other first class powers.
Putin’s miscalculation means he has reinvigorated NATO, got the world cheering German rearmament and paved the way for a wider anti-Russian alliance in eastern Europe.
His only friend of substance will be China, and that will be a relationship akin to that of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian empire to the Germans in the Great War – the shots will be called in Beijing.
Yes, I have said in previous posts that Russia just ends up as a vasal state for China out of this.
I think Putin is so obsessed with Ukraine, and is overly focused on the short-term objective of not being seen to lose. But what ever happens, he has lost strategically. Russia will never be a great power again after this.
In a globalised world, all sanctions and measures to punish can have unforeseen consequences .
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oligarchs-seized-superyachts-may-become-environmental-hazard-experts-2022-3
Incidentally, the ordinary Russian people are just loving seeing the almighty oligarchs getting their comeuppance
I'm looking forward to all living military and political leaders being put on trial for all war crimes committed under their watch.
Ad, you may be looking forward to Russian military leaders being put on trial. In addition to this, some of us want to see the US put on trial for the millions of people whose existence is being threatened by the starvation and the deliberate denial of life saving drugs. These sanctions are imposed without UN approval and enforced by the US and its proxies. Such sanctions are without doubt WAR CRIMES and like the alleged war crimes in Ukraine are ruthless. One can only assume that the western world turns a blind eye because the victims are not blue eyed Europeans.
You might also consider which parts of the world have no skin in the NATO/Russian confrontation but will be consigned to premature deaths in the pile on to impose sanctions.
Day 3 in bed, binge-watching The Watchers on Netflix (recommended).
Part 2 of the final series of Ozark starts on 29th April as well for anyone who is into that.
Ozark is a great series. Thanks for that I was wondering when it was returning.
There is a trailer for it on youtube atm I think.
Thanks again. Just watched it. Looks awesome.
I just finished Bel Air (TVNZ), that was good.
I hope the nasty Omicron doesn't lay you too low Ad. Get well.
My bad it's actually called Secret City.
Make sure that you take it easy Ad. The fatigue stage is something else that has to be experienced to fully understand.
On the subject of visual entertainment can I recommend a 2019 English comic drama. "years and years". Not sure if it is on Netflix but it is on dvd and maybe the library has a copy. Our local library here has it. It's very topical including refugees from Ukraine, and really good for political tragics such as us on TS. One of the teenagers communicates with her parents through a digital filter, and thinks that she is trans – transhuman and wants to become digital data.
Something for all. 😏😊
If you don't mind a bit of violence, and haven't caught up with Peaky Blinders, watch it. Some of the best TV ever!
I want some of that stuff you are on! You make Lala Land sound so cool!
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Thank you for your intelligent contribution to this debate /s
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-superannuation-maori-party-co-leader-rawiri-waititi-suggests-lowering-eligibility-age/ABLOZ5Q7EBVVWRHXFLEHQTLL2Y/
He says that it should be 57 for Maori and I think he has a point however
"• The gap between Māori and non-Māori period life expectancy has fluctuated, but over the
long term narrowed. For the period 2012-14, period life expectancy at age 65 for Māori men
was 15.4 years, and women 17.5 years. The non-Māori figures were 19.1 and 21.6 years,
implying a gap for that period of 3.8 years for men and 4.1 years for women"
https://actuaries.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2-Longevity-RIIG-FINAL-Oct-19.pdf
Now of course there are more ways to divide a population than by race I would be very confident to wager a fair portion of my puny wealth that rich people live longer than poor people and the same for disabled versus the abled. But as the co-leader of a race based party I can see why his priorities appear to be only for Maori outcomes.
.
Perhaps men should get the pension sooner than women because women tend to live longer.
I am sure non smokers and non drinkers live longer to should ……
.
But it's not just the Māori Party … ethnic-based preferential treatment is very much the goal of Labour & Green Party elites & activists, heavily influenced by Critical Race Theory & its various bastardized ideological manifestations … (the doctrinal maxims handed down by Archbishops DiAngelo, Kendi, Applebaum, Coates & so on) …
A highly, highly selective 'equity' … in which poorer Pakeha, Asians & other non-Polynesians are outrageously labelled "privileged" & systematically scapegoated into second-class citizenship, largely by stealth … with all the dire health consequences, lifestyle degradation & early death that that process entails.
Quite possibly an inevitable corollary of an ultimately self-interested Professional Upper-Middle Class capture of the 'Left'.
I would be happy enough to offer a reduced pension from 60 if a) it was means tested and b) normal super payments kicked in at a slightly older age, like 67 or 68.
It's a big thank you to Ashley Bloomfield, he has achieved his opus magnum in public health and bigger, but perhaps not as important, stations are calling him after a well deserved break. He departs a hero of public health practitioners everywhere and one would imagine almost any public health related job he wishes will be his for the picking.
I wonder what the bookies are offering on Ashley Bloomfield being on the Labour party list in 2023? Andrew Little does little except be grumpy, Jacinda may need a genial new health minister.
Anyway, if he isn't doing politics it'll be arise Sir Ashley come new year mark my words.
Well said Sanctuary. Having a Sir Ashley would be a very welcome and well deserved honour, as opposed to, the all too often party donor business troughers.
Agreed !
I give you New Zealander of the year 2022
AFAICR, when he was asked the question, about whether he'd like to be a politician, the answer was very much in the negative.
I don't think he has any ambitions at all for a 'public' life after the last 2.5 yearrs.
His reply: 'Not . . . a jot!'
Ad, tsmithfield and others: can you explain why the U.K is delaying a meeting of the UN Security Council?
Nebenzia & co have have put out information contrary to the official western/Ukrainian line. Is it not in the best interests of us all to test the evidence presented in both narratives?
Trying to read UNSC politics right now is next to impossible with Russia toxic to all but China, French Presidential elections days away, and all the current non-permanent members studiously avoiding strong support of Europe right now.
It's not a parlour game I want to observe.
why the U.K is delaying a meeting of the UN Security Council?
Because they’re complicit in the NATO proxy war using Ukraine as a pawn to topple Russia, this being a last ditch attempt to keep the West as the drivers of World Order.
they are pouring tax payers money in weaponry to keep their war going at the same time ignoring the well being and infrastructure badly needed by those tax paying vassals.
Wow mate you excel yourself – so this is a NATO proxy war designed to topple Russia dam those NATO guys are so clever getting Ukraine to attack and invade Russia …oh hang on a minute….
BydONZ.
Putin didn't need to invaded now he is in danger of being toppledev.
A corrupt regime poisoning murdering those who speak out.
I hope the way the business sector and National/Act have prioritised their selfish demands over the health and well-being of people has not contributed to Ashley Bloomfield deciding to step down. Their constant lack of backing up and support for his recommendations would not have made his job easy. His calm, intelligent demeanour has been amazing in the midst of all that has been thrown at him to deal with.
A comprehensive look at the four different locations in Bucha.
https://www.donbass-insider.com/2022/04/04/ukraine-the-massacre-of-bucha-a-ukrainian-timisoara/
Interesting that the guys in the "torture cellar," and some of those with their hands tied on the road, have visible white armbands(signalling non hostility to the Russian military in a Russian occupied area)
Also has a video of war victims being buried in a mass grave outside the church.The video makes clear the dead are the victims of bombing from round about the 13th March, and says there are about 67 people buried
Someone recommended Meduza as being reliable(read a pro western outlet …thought they'd been banned)
So, to my mind , the Russians are in the wider sense, responsible for the carnage , by initiating the war , but they have not perpetrated all the deaths themselves by a long way., and I am highly suspicious of those deaths where the victims are wearing white armbands and have their hands tied behind their backs.
Francesca-Are you saying the West/NATO are spreading propaganda? Perish the thought. After all this never happened once in 5 years of the Second WW.
Wait a minute…..
The Security Council is a mess. Russia, Ukraine, and the USA do not recognise the ICC.
The chance of Putin or anybody being held accoutable are pretty much nil.
https://twitter.com/maxmorton6GDM/status/1511023028896940039?cxt=HHwWjoCyzYzcnfgpAAAA
I was interested to read about these Russian soldiers/mercenaries today.
The terrible thing is I have never heard of them and their atrocities before ..but then I see the line…
"Images taken yesterday show a soldier wearing the insignia of the paramilitary group which has been active in civil wars in Africa"
and I am reminded, yet again, how little we care about other people who we deem to be less than..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10687901/Russias-feared-Wagner-mercenaries-spotted-Ukraine-time-1-000-deployed.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Group
Stephen D – Is bringing the issue to the Security Council about holding "Putin or anybody" accountable or about trying to establish the truth of the matter?
Russia has said it's a false flag and they have evidence to that effect. I don't know if that's true or false. Do they have the right to be heard or don't they?
If atrocities can be proven, Then someone should be accountable.
But don't count on it.
The resignation of Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield has spooky weirdness to it.
He has nothing to go to. ie lost half a mil a year with not so much as a Director's appointment.
He's centre and middle of the largest health restructure we've ever done, which he's leading, and none of it's ready except the Maori entity Board appointments.
He's leaving when the pandemic remains the highest it's been in the entire two years.
He did not see his own term out, nor the political term, nor have a successor in place for the Number 1 King job. Surely it would have been his for the taking.
The thanks from the Prime Minister was sweet but brief and his own Minister Little has said nothing.
And now there's this. The Treasury has just released its Investor Confidence Review into the Ministry of Health which collapsed into a D rating. The DHB's which Bloomfield had had ripped apart by his attack dog Lester Levy all actually were shown to be strong and should not have been attacked. There go the careers of the key leaders of Waitemata, Auckland, Counties Manukau, and Canterbury. No need to wonder why key managers don't want to stay in Health here.
This is all set out in rigorous detail over three posts by Ian Powell previous Exec Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. Each of them is detailed and worth the time to read. This degree of sustained bureaucratic knifing is rarely exposed.
GUEST BLOG: Ian Powell – More than egg running down face; it’s an entire poultry farm’s yolk | The Daily Blog
Treasury's evaluation results of Bloomfield's Departmental performance are all in black and white here, also going through all key Departments and all DHBs.
Investor Confidence Rating Results Analysis: Round 1 and Round 2 (treasury.govt.nz)
Granted we will see more blood spilled as all those DHB Board directors really air out their dirty laundry one by one.
Like Ardern, Bloomfield looks like he was great in a crisis but when that started to wear off the truth of his actual operation has come out.
I doubt too much more will come out from around him as his immediate circle will all be angling for the jobs that are in contest now, including his own.
Wellington looks a shade darker today.
I would imagine all the failings you describe Ad could be attributed to one Chai Chuah the previous Director General. Didn't we dodge a bullet by not having a National appointed accountant in charge of health in the time of a pandemic.
I don't claim to be an expert in Chai Chuah but the posts from Ian Powell show differently.
Irrespective, it's Ashley Bllomfield walking out now.
Maybe he can see the Health restructure going the same way as Kiwibuild and decided that enough is enough.
Why Chuah resigned.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99564217/chai-chuah-had-no-choice-but-to-resign
two simpler explanations.
1. he's burned out (look at him)
2. he can't support the government's current pandemic plan because it fails public health.
or both.
I think he's burned out. Do you recall the interview (about a year into the pandemic) where he spoke of the stress he felt carrying the burden of responsibility in those first hectic months? And the pressure hasn't let up. That takes a toll.
I could see it in Chris Hipkins as well at the end of last year. I suspect many people throughout health and government are feeling drained, to say the least.
I don't remember that but it makes sense.
Ardern looks like she needs a break too.
He's leaving at the end of July.
Basically, after reading the links and then the previous posts in the DB link, I still have no idea what the dude is one about, let alone whether an alleged "coup" in one DHB is enough to be a career-ending debacle.
But I suspect that the DG-Health job has been a particularly tough one over the last couple of years (in both workload and responsibility), and as a still-registered doctor I doubt Bloomfield will be on the dole queue any time soon.
I wish him well.
I think you can be rid of just 'suspecting' the job has been tough one. Two more senior people are finishing too.
I see Dr Caroline McElnay, director of public health, has commuted from Napier for five years.
They certainly have done their best for the public in unbelievably difficult times. The difficulties of the circumstances were beyond the ken of most of the cretins they were serving. Whose lives they helped save.
No doubt there'll be scuttlebutt, speculation and conspiracy theories about why they're resigning. Naturally enough Ardern, Hipkins and Little will be accused of all sorts of things. And blamed.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/public-health-exodus-chiefs-caroline-mcelnay-niki-stefanogiannis-join-ashley-bloomfield-in-departing-from-ministry-of-health/VSOKUPYSVOI4IAMKAPIDFAL2PY/
Maybe, but apparently the previous 3 Director-Generals of Health also didn't finish their 5 year terms, so it would almost be more unusual if he did finish the term.
Christchurch has introduced changes to Airbnb et al.Often council changes have negative outcomes for many (cost plus) here this will provide positive outcomes while disadvantaging few.
With over 2000 units in CHCH city,for short stay accommodation ,unconsented and paying residential rates (and probably residential insurance etc) not meeting the requirements of the building act,these units have an unfair disadvantage over entrenched accommodation providers.
The possible outcomes are an increased rating income for CHCH,from existing inventory for those who remain.
Even a minor change in inventory use will have a large outcome in CHCH,say for example if we see 10% become available on the rental market,this will be a 25% increase in rental listings,and if 10% become available on the housing market that increases inventory by 5%.
Accommodation (motels etc) is around 35% down at present in CHCH,so there will be no short term constraints.
Nationwide it would have substantive benefits ( without a single nail being used)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128264975/airbnb-slams-christchurchs-new-house-sharing-rules-as-most-restrictive-in-australasia
Hmmm it looks like Ukraine is about to get a major boost to both its air force and its battle tank forces.
Poland has just signed a deal for purchase of both US tanks and warplanes.
The significance of this purchase that Poland had been reluctant to give its current Soviet era tanks and Migs unless they could be upgraded by the US. So, this deal suggests Poland may release its older stuff to Ukraine.
Looks like that is happening now, so Ukraine could soon have a major boost for ejecting the Russians
From your link (did you read it?)
2026 is a bit of a long wait!
Yes. I noticed that as well. It was under the Ukraine page for CNN, so I assumed there was an implied deal being done.
Not that we would necessarily know. I saw one of the US government guy saying they don't state everything they are giving Ukraine for obvious reasons.
Just the Red Army doing Red Army shit.
https://twitter.com/olenalennon/status/1510423825158082564
"Ukrainian soldiers reporting having found boxes of condoms in destroyed russian IFVs"…..you are off the fucking hook man, you, without even the slightest doubt in your mind, link us to a Ukrainian propaganda TV channel, a place where all opposition political new sources and political parties have been banned, WTF…is your bullshit detector completely broken…or did you turn it off yourself?
I thought this was where serious political debate took place.
Opposition political parties banned in Ukraine and ‘unified information policy’ imposed
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/21/opposition-political-parties-banned-in-ukraine-and-unified-information-policy-imposed/
Yeah and Churchill imprisoned Oswald Mosely I presume you would find that objectionable?
Some opposition parties banned for the duration of the war.
PS Demonisation of Ukraine as of Nazi regime has consequences, given what the Red Army did to women of Germany.
Medvedchuk was put under house arrest long before the invasion , and opposition TV was also shut down
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Medvedchuk#:~:text=Medvedchuk's%20house%20arrest%20started%20on,of%20Opposition%20Platform%20%E2%80%94%20For%20Life.
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-zelenskiy-bans-three-opposition-tv-stations/a-56438505
And meanwhile in Russia Putin grants amnesty to …
Olympian sportsmen & women are supplied with condoms while in the Olympic village. So does this mean they came prepared to "gang rape girls"?
um, do you have any understanding of context???
Just the Red Army doing Red Army shit.
you really are an ignorant dick head GI Joe. there is no Red Army, there is no Communist Russia.
Maybe with the next election they may make a comeback being the second most popular party by far and with a big swing against Putins version of Capitalism. In the meantime, educate yourself
And if Joe wants to go back to Red Army days, he might like to remind himself of the OUN's slaughter of jews, Poles, and Roma in the second world war, under the leadership of Stepan Bandera.That Bandera who is still revered in Western Ukraine today
I was watching a Real Crime documentary a few days ago on SKY – Catching The Nail Bomber. (It's on Youtube)
Just a Nazi doing Nazi shit.
David Copeland:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_London_nail_bombings#Political_views
6 April 2022 at 2:31 pm
Just the Red Army doing Red Army shit.
Gosh, I remember that happening in Libya, where Gadaffi’s men were give viagra to enable them to be rape machines. .Remember that Joe?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/29/diplomat-gaddafi-troops-viagra-mass-rape
oh, hang on
https://www.salon.com/2016/09/16/u-k-parliament-report-details-how-natos-2011-war-in-libya-was-based-on-lies/
propaganda got to propaganda
Exactly. Lies get found out later on, not that the Joe’s of this world get enlightened.
Is the world better off for murdering Saddam Hussain. Ask the parents of depleted uranium child victims.
same as Gadaffis’ Libya which had no foreign debt and where all were entitled to accommodation at a just rent. Talk about a war crime.
keep up the good work Francesca
After Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria, nothing the Russians have done in Ukraine comes as a surprise. And without doubt, you and your ilk's defence and deflection of Russia's crimes makes you complicit in their murderously indiscriminate brutality, cruelty and sexual violence.
For shame.
/
^^^^ THIS
Have found the updated (mātauranga Māori inclusive) Curriculum matrix for NCEA Level 6, and posting the link to the page and the pdf here for anyone interested:
https://ncea.education.govt.nz/science/chemistry-and-biology?view=learning
https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2021-11/CB%20Learning%20Matrix_1.pdf?VersionId=cvRzAyGel6WeB_xoxwhY7RPGwruXyVxl
I've only briefly looked, but I already have concerns. Substitution of Te Reo Māori phrases and terms where there is no direct translation, thereby muddying language and concepts.
eg. Under Big Idea
(Mauri – 1. (noun) life principle, life force, vital essence, special nature, a material symbol of a life principle, source of emotions – the essential quality and vitality of a being or entity. Also used for a physical object, individual, ecosystem or social group in which this essence is located.)
Conservation of mass, huh.
Nah. They've just rediscovered quintessence, or the fifth element, also known as aether.
In this case I guess it would be the ancient Greek version
" Aether – personification of the sky or upper air breathed by the Olympians; son of Erebus and night or of Chaos and darkness. Greek deity – a deity worshipped by the ancient Greeks. "
I doubt if they are really up to the medieval version which was supposed to provide the transmission of em radiation described as
"aether, also known as the fifth element or quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere. The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as the traveling of light and gravity."
Whichever one "mauri" is it is just as mythological and non-scientific as the various forms of "aether" turned out to be.
Here is a real journalist doing their job….
Meh – a celebrity motoring journalist telling one side of the story – and rather badly at that – Might as well listen to Mike Hosking. Reporting from the Donbas region – large numbers of local casualties. Well you will get that when you rise against your government and provide a springboard for hostile Russian forces.
Are we to take it Adrian, that you are so blind you have no knowledge of the many Ukranians killed in Russia's phony war in Donbas? How about you show us some thus far never demonstrated evenhandedness and learn those numbers – or are we to suffer your pathetic pandering to Putin ad nauseum as usual?
13000 killed and 30 000 wounded as of 2019 – since we all know that you are too pathetic a Putin worshipping fascist to look for those numbers yourself.
[This is getting far too personal, again. I don’t want to have to step in and break up shit fights, so why don’t you two stop replying and referring to each other for a few days. Hopefully, this will calm the mind & temper and lower the levels of acrimony between you two – Incognito]
"since we all know that you are too pathetic a Putin worshipping fascist"…..find just one time when I have condoned or defended Putin..you won't you fucking idiot.
I am getting a little tired of your unhinged always slightly hysterical ad hominem attacks on me… I am an easy guy to find on in internet, so why don't you contact me directly, and I will tell my address so you can come here and say that shit right to my face…or is saying this stuff just something you are only brave enough to do online when it doesn't mean nothing…as I suspect it is.
[This is getting far too personal, again. I don’t want to have to step in and break up shit fights, so why don’t you two stop replying and referring to each other for a few days. Hopefully, this will calm the mind & temper and lower the levels of acrimony between you two – Incognito]
Adrian is right. I have never seen a comment from him condoning or defending Russia.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1511160772281479182?cxt=HHwWnMC95eit3PgpAAAA
Mod note
find just one time when I have condoned or defended Putin.
You never fail to repeat his propaganda.
You attempt to rebut anything critical of him.
You are never remotely even-handed nor do you ever try to check or balance your sources.
Were you a Putin appointed staffer of the Russian embassy you wouldn't do a thing different.
How about you stop pretending and come clean.
Mod note
Noted.
However – I have a policy of intolerance of fascists. Popper explains it best:
This Paradox of Tolerance, as it came to be known, argues that intolerant behaviors, irrespective of any judgement of the values that underlie them, ought to be actively fought against in order to preserve an inclusive society.
The Putin dupes are not progressives. They are really only Putin's version of the Hitler Youth. They don't know, and thus can neither argue nor explain a Russian viewpoint.
Instead they resort to whataboutery, a tactic familiar to households with feuding four-year-olds "He did it first", they cry, a tactic that gets short shrift from experienced parents.
The crowning arrogance is for Adrian to complain about being bullied. He or she is proudly championing a genocidal monster, at length, ad nauseum, on a progressive site. I should damned well hope they being bullied – until they desist.
I'd've preferred if that function were undertaken by the Mods – but I don't set the policy.
Thank you. Below is my reply intended for general audience as well.
The kaupapa (aka ‘policy’) of this site is debating not bullying. The couple of Mods around here each have their own areas of expertise and special interest. Moderation is predominantly on poor/bad behaviour and not on content or topic; Mods can only skim the most obvious and blatant offences, because of limited time and because of lack of familiarity with the matter under discussion. This site is as lenient as possible to allow commenters as much freedom to debate each other as they wish.
My advice is not to waste time on closed-minded ‘dupes’ and save your energy for commenters who are genuinely interested in debate even, or rather particularly, when you might not agree with them – debating people with whom you 100% agree is an oxymoron (aka echo chamber).
My suggestion is that we start a new daily post titled 'Special Operations Post for Putin Dick Suckers' and all their posts get moved there – where the rest of us can safely ignore them.
It irks me that TS is wasting pixels on their drivel, but free speech and all.
Yup, nobody has ever said that free speech is as beautiful as the smell of roses at a moonlit night.
Some here act as horny teenagers (M & F) masturbating at war porn as if their lives depend on it. It is pathetic, embarrassing and off-putting, IMHO.
To me. The USA can do no wrong, fan boys, the ones who say if "you are not for us you are against us", AND the advocates for Putin, can be put in their own thread entitled "Baby Killer" fanboys!
There are people I work with now, who are very worried about relatives involved in several wars. It is not a joke!
I find the bloviating and War Porn, obnoxious.
I know workers are needed for a range of jobs in the country. In the news today:
Housing. How will 165,000 people find houses? I’d heard there was a bit of a housing problem.
They're already here.