I am increasingly thinking that cities like Auckland are on the wrong track in moving towards a more centralised organisation. I want to link together comments from a couple of threads yesterday.
On the lost in suburbia thread, a couple of us argued for decentralisation:
I commented on the way the shift to Auckland supercity has meant more people traveling across and into Auckland, and more cultural establishments/buildings etc being situated in the centre of Auckland:
Penny Bright, on open mike last night, provides evidence of a conflict of interest involved in the buying of the ASB building by the Auckland Council, in order to make it a bigger HQ for the council:
It seems Peter George Wall is both one of 2 directors of the business, Brookfield Multiplex, that currently owns the building. He is also on the executive team of Auckland Council Property Ltd.
All this Auckland Council centralisation seems to be in the interests of the cultural and business elite in central Auckland. This is what those of us in west and South Auckland didn’t want when we voted Brown for mayor, rather than Banks. But it seems the crony capitalists of central Auckland are still getting their way, while a large proportion of the less wealthy and powerful languish in the suburbs.
I should temper this argument with acknowledgement that some local boards have significant plans to upgrade their areas as important living and working hubs (e.g. in New Lynn and Massey), but those boards have been created to have less power than the top of the Auckland Council pyramid.
It is the most spectacular legislated monopoly, and those characteristics get really evident within the CCOs.
In terms of supporting elites, my principle concern is that there is a helluvalot being spent on transport capex, but very little on social housing, directed toward softening the massive housing crisis.
Are there any structural changes proposed for this CCO setup from either the Greens or Labour?
Pretty unfortunate the way Brownlee squashed the Mayor’s ideas for alternative funding. The alternative funding package is the gap between business as usual and the Auckland Plan targets i.e. no alternative funding, probably no rail tunnel, probably no Avondale-Southdown line, probably no Harbour tunnel, etc etc. AucklandTransportBlog have been the best at holding Tranport CCO to account.
Could probably do with a property-focussed blog to scrutinize as well.
Here’s the problem for Len. He won. National had Rodney Hide ram through the Super City annexation through Parliament under urgency for one purpose and one purpose only, to ease and speed the sale of Auckland’s Assets.
The ridiculously named ‘Council Controlled Organizations’ were stacked with right wing appointees to quietly work on ‘asset rationalization’ far from public and SuperCity Council scrutiny.
[..]
Len is very good at bringing people to the table, but this is a fight, not a meeting of minds. Len has got to stop being the weak nice guy and actually throw some punches at the Government or else come election time he’ll be perceived to have stood for nothing more than siding with the Ports over their disgusting bullyboy tactics against the union.
Auckland is an isthmus. Cities like London grew out of villages that then grew and connected up, making rail much more efficient since they just place the stations under.
Auckland is an isthmus. Long ago Auckland should have been creating a line of town centers leading south, and have by now connected them with stations in the town centers, not a km off to the side.
NZ will be forever be shackled in its growth due to the Aucklands nature limitations.
Pro-democracy Labour Branches, LECs and Sector groups must have their Amendments to the NZ Councils proposed rules lodged by the end of August. They need to watch the four month rule.
Read the full Constitution carefully and look at where the rule changes remove or shrink many components of democracy. There is some erroneous guidance in emails from the Gen Sec as to what the NZ Council and the Conference can and cannot decide. Get stuck onto the nuts and bolts of how our party works. Much of the findings of the advisory group that visited all the regions (Rick Barker et al) has had the eyes picked out of it. The time has come for those who see the big picture to roll up their sleeves and to get stuck in. Otherwise the democracy of the Labour Party will be pulled from under your feet. BE ALERT.
It’s interesting isn’t it. We all have our barrows to push. Living where I do, I cannot understand why the park and ride at Silverdale was stopped, and Penlink put on the back burner.
Looking at the broader picture, the secrecy that can veil the CCOs is a real worry. In most jobs transparency is crucial, why is politics the exception?
Silverdale Park and Ride is waiting for the private developer to get their shit together.
Penlink just didn’t have the benefits to go in front of things like AMETI or Tiverton-Wolverton or such. It’s still in the RLTP, just a few years back.
Interestingly, upon CNN this am, discussion of wealthy Americans fleeing (my choice of action word) North America.
Fleeing to settle some place else. possibly the new frontier of the antipodean “wild, wild, west”
Well, theres a “new sherriff in town” and “this town aint big enough for the both of US”
(long memories and short, slow, boat to China)
But they sure do have some big guns on those battle-ships, settling further across the Pacific.
What happened to the investigation into The Living Wage? All gone quiet on that front. The more I read about the struggle to put food on the table and a roof over heads, the living wage seems a better and better idea.
Its okay to discriminate, as long as you don’t tell anyone why you are, and its not obvious.
You are bleeding kidding me, NZ is not about fairness, fairness only happens when the
politicians fear upsetting you. And that means only the rich at the moment gets them stressed.
You much remember that hopelessly stupid statement must be ridiculed if they come from
a poor person, but if Glen says wifes turn to seeking status, you cannot point out that his whole
purpose in working is to create status for himself. As we know, work is essential part of
a person identity, that’s the whole basis for the work testing, that the state has the right
to tell poor people to get work since work is good for them. Living wage, not going to happen
until we have mass movements that government shits itself rather than awaken from their apathy.
The title of this website: https://www.myopinioncounts.co.nz/home.php
purports to encourage people to express opinions, but it is possible that by signing in all that would happen would be to add to the number of people they would claim support smoking. Has anyone signed in and fund out whether it is possible to then express an opinion? Or see the opinions of others? Are any of those opinions against the Philip Morris views, or does my opinion not count?
It also enables the company to get hold of addresses so they can send out ‘newsletters’ – branded and colour-coded. Stealth marketing at it’s most cynical, I reckon.
The “information we share” section in the privacy policy gives a pretty open indication that their ‘affiliates’ will contact the subscriber.
Will those ‘newsletters’ breach any law, in fact it’s a perfectly legal product, tobacco that is, so what actual right have you or anyone else got to interfere in my or anyone else’s legal use of a legal product…
Kronic BS no body has died from that rubbish yet so it should be legalized according to your analogy.
If tobacco was a new product to the market it would immediately be made illegal and those pushing it would be locked up for a very long time.
All other illegal drugs used in NZ since have caused less than deaths in a 100 years less than 500 than tobacco does in one year. That’s less than 0.1%yet the laws against these illegal drugs are draconian by comparison.
Laugh, Yes if i read all the comments in the debate on ‘tobacco’ in today’s Open Mike it appears that there are more than a few that know what’s best for me,
So much so that when i ask a logical question like, IF as the produced stats say, tobacco use has declined by 6% since 1999, where in the health stats is the equivalent decline in the deaths from heart disease, there is no answer,
Heart disease is a biggy for the ASH fanatics to have included in the statistics of tobacco use caused deaths and as the ASH fanatics didn’t really get called on the Bullshit of ”tobacco use MIGHT cause heart disease”, on cigarette packets that has now graduated to the even bigger Bullshit of ”tobacco use CAUSES heart disease”,
In today’s debate i have been ”playing with a straight bat”,but, can anyone imagine the ‘Bizniss’ Government of National really going after the tobacco industry???,
Hardly, National have just seized upon a perfect means of revenue raising through tobacco excise tax which directly attacks the income of those mostly on low incomes who are the majority by far of tobacco users knowing that ‘the left’ wont object because the justification for such tax is coming directly from ‘professional lefty’s in the health system’…
who are the majority by far of tobacco users knowing that âthe leftâ wont object because the justification for such tax is coming directly from âprofessional leftyâs in the health systemââŚ
Yes, I have always seen it as a class thing! The uppers drink fine wine, and the lowers smoke.
I’m not interfering in your use of the product. However I’d prefer you didn’t use it in spaces we may share. I’m interested in whether the people who profit from that product continue to market it. Surely marketing has no effect on smokers – so there is no reason for you to be concerned if that is restricted.
When the stated aim of Government is to have ‘NZ smoke-free by 2020’ then everything Government does after making such a pronouncement is an attempt to curtail the legal rights of a certain section of society,
I have the legal right to use tobacco products as does a tobacco company wishing to sell the product to me,
I agree with your right to not have me use those tobacco products in a public space that you at any time might occupy…
Yes, you have a legal right to use a product that they legally sell. My comment above is not about that – it was about whether this site will be used as a marketing tool.
And yes, it may breach the law if marketed in NZ – hence my interest in the privacy policy affiliates. Who are they? where are they based will that get around legal restrictions?
How do you feel about the tobacco companies’ right to market their product given that established smokers (like established drinkers and alcohol) say it has no impact on their use of the product? – because they are marketing, just look at the publicity since they launched the site – Who are they marketing it to? And if it is young non-smokers is that ethical, in your opinion?
Firstly, as a smoker of some 43 years i have yet to see the health profession put a time line on the ‘smoking kills’ inflamation, (as opposed to information),
Second,and i have posted this a number of times on this web-site and others, IF any Government were serious about having people QUIT smoking and NOT allowing those under 18 to use and become addicted to tobacco products that Government only need declare Tobacco to be in the same category as ‘party pills’, make it’s continuing use a matter of doctors prescription to manage those presently addicted and disallow anyone presently under the age of 18 from being able to register as an addict,
The fact is that it is YOU, the likes of ASH, and various others who do not smoke who in fact are the TOOLS being used by Government to allow my legal rights to use a legal product to be continually infringed upon,
How do i feel about tobacco company’s being able to advertize, on one level i don’t give a toss,plain packaging will only restrict smokers with a taste,habit,addiction to a particular brand, the young when they smoke, mostly unable to afford whole packet purchases, will smoke any old tobacco that is available,
Having said the above, i come full circle, as tobacco is a legal product Government does not in my opinion have the legal right to restrict the products advertising anymore than it does any other legal product available to be sold…
So after an irrelevant 3 paragraph rant (I’ve not said anything that infringes your right to smoke, except that I’d prefer you didn’t smoke in places we might share), you finally [sort of] address the questions by basically saying you couldn’t give a toss if giant corporates market their addictive product to young people. Good-oh.
Being a tool of politicians and ASH loony’s seems to have it’s health side-effects like tobacco use, seems to have made you go both blind and lose any sense of comprehension at the same time,
In spite of all the current restrictions, in spite of the rack raising of excise tax on tobacco products, in spite of the only advertizing on TV concerning tobacco products being the anti- attempt at brainwashing, the young (and by that i mean under the age of 18), continue to take up tobacco use at the same rates they did prior to the concerted efforts to stop them,
In the young,and here i address college aged kids there is now a definite ‘black-market’ in tobacco products, it is not as yet confined in a ‘young criminal element’ it is a floating market in the nature of whomever can get their hands upon the product on any given day sells to their mates at the rate of 2 bucks a ciggy,
Such a growing black-market does not differentiate over product brands and tends to suggest that those under the age of 18, supposedly those who the plain packaging is aimed at, will not be effected one iota by such plain packaging as a deterrent…
Daily smoking rates for 14â15 year olds have declined considerably since 1999. Between 1999 and 2009, the prevalence of daily smoking declined by 65 percent for boys in this age group (from 14 percent to 5 percent) and by 63 percent for girls (from 17 percent to 6 percent).
I reckon it’s worth continuing to restrict advertising to until there is a clear picture on this – because the later people start smoking, the less likely addiction is to take hold. And seeing as advertising doesn’t affect your right to smoke one iota, I can’t for the life of me see why you have a problem with this. I mean if I had my way I’d restrict all advertising – consumer culture of whatever type does nobody, nor the environment, any good.
Or, because of the demonization of ‘smoking’ the number of young people willing to admit that they use tobacco products is declining,
My view= a bit of both…
Heres another for the statistically minded, if in 20 years the use of tobacco products has fallen by 6% where in the health statistics is the corresponding fall in the New Zealand rate of those who die of Heart Disease,(the use of tobacco products supposedly now a major cause of such)…
I reckon itâs worth continuing to restrict advertising to until there is a clear picture on this â because the later people start smoking, the less likely addiction is to take hold.
Utter nonsense! I started when I was 27, having spent all of my childhood and teens very a self-righteous anti-smoking prat. I quit a few years later, then started again when I was 37!
The snobbery element is very strong. The upper class kids I meet are all ‘Oh get that cigarette away from me, you scruffy old biddy’. The lower class kids smoke. If I were in any trouble, I’d far rather ask a smoker for help – a non-smoker would want to spend hours, days or weeks telling me why whatever problem I had was my own fault for being (a) old (b) a beneficiary (c) a smoker (d) poor and/or (e) unmarried.Â
This even if all I wanted them to do was help me change a lightbulb as I’m 1.5 metres tall and the ceiling is 2.5 metres! đ
Bad12 – I’m quite happy to leave extrapolating Japanese non-smokers’ heart disease with New Zealand smokers’ heart disease to you. Similarly the effects of increasingly poor diets and increasing rates of inactivity leading to rises in heart disease compared with reduced heart disease from reduced smoking rates.
Vicky32 – yeah, I had my first cigarette when I was about 12, gave up when I was 15 because it was no good for the baby đ But I do realise that individual experiences, while important, are not necessarily significant in terms of the overall population.
Vicky32 – it would appear that you are indeed no longer “anti-smoking”, but i for one would question whether you have moved on from being “a self-righteous prat”. Maybe you could add “classist” to this self-assessment?
make itâs continuing use a matter of doctors prescription to manage those presently addicted and disallow anyone presently under the age of 18 from being able to register as an addict,
Â
I quite agree bad, and I’d guess that when the govt gets to the point of banning smoking that that is exactly what it will do (as opposed to just making tobacco illegal).
Â
I don’t really see what the problem is. If you don’t mind sales being restricted in this way, and you are happy to not smoke around other people, then what’s wrong?
Â
Also, you use the term legal right as if you have free access to smoking. You don’t. Tobacco is already subject to a number of laws, including around sale, who can grow it, and where it can be used. Even when I smoked 30 years ago there were laws regulating tobacco. It’s been a long time since there was any degree of freedom around tobacco.
Â
Â
Do you not tho see the arse about face nature of the present situation, we have a Government saying that in an effort to FORCE me to not use a product that is legally for sale across the nation i will be forced to pay more and more for that product through the addition of excise taxes,
IF tobacco products are able to be legally sold which they are where then does any Government have the legal right to try and force me not to use the product???…
Ok, that probably got lost in the ranting đ
Â
Yes, the first point makes completes sense. I would be highly annoyed if my drug of choice had increasing taxes put on it. And I also agree that there are social justice issues here.
Â
The second point I disagree with. Tobacco already has many restrictions on its legality, and the govt definitely has the right to increase restrictions where there is a public health risk (which there patently is).
Â
Instead of increasing taxes they should just go straight to prescription only. And people should be allowed to grow their own. But which govt is going to do that?Â
Â
btw, alcohol has a massive tax on it. Are you in favour of that being taken off?
Â
How about petrol?
Â
Road user charges?
Â
Â
Â
Â
My point being that the Government is trying to force me to STOP using a legal product,
The intention as stated by Government is ‘for a smoke-free New Zealand by such and such a date’
Therein lies the difference between taxes on other products that you list, the stated intention for those taxes is to cover the additional cost to the community of those using those products,
No,no,no,tobacco has restrictions upon where and to who it can be sold to and from, these are not restrictions on tobacco’s overall legality as a product sold…
OK, so maybe it’s more akin to not allowing people to use woodburners in Chch anymore, or bringing in legislation to reduce car emissions. From a public health perspective, it makes sense and I don’t have a problem with the govt’s intention. I do have an ethical problem with taxing the poor though.
Do you have a link to the govts plant to enforce smoke free by 2020?
No idea, but they’re using some fairly manipulative copy on that site. For instance the visual saying Outdoor Smoking Bans? (read more), then slides across to show Behind Closed Doors? (read more). My immediate thought was it would be about plans to ban people smoking at home, but it’s merely that shops will no longer be allowed to display brands to customers.
Â
The only thing I can see that shows what joining does is this. It doesn’t really make sense though.
Â
From time to time, membership of this website will help you:
Stay informed about current and pending proposals
Share your views with politicians and other key decision makers
Yes to the first 2 questions,No to the 3rd, don’t know to the 4th, and on the 5th as it’s a web-site specifically set up by a tobacco company to gauge the opinion of those who use tobacco products i would guess it’s a big YES your opinion on that particular web-site don’t count,
The fact that from the Government on down to the ‘average wowzing wanker in the street’ want to prohibit me from using what is a perfectly legal product points to a serious case of the asylum of Western democracy definitely being taken over by the loony’s,
Tobacco company’s do not need to inflate the numbers of those who ‘support smoking’, there are approximately 600,000 of us and as the site is in it’s infancy, (the ASH fanatics having had a 20 year head start), it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from a ‘smokers web-site’,
Should this ”smokers web-site’ be able to bring together a large proportion of those who use tobacco products their will obviously be political ramifications and i would hope at least 1 high Court case testing the Government’s legality in it’s stated attempts to stop people from using what is a perfectly legal product…
Anyone else who posts to NZ Herald online comments noticed their annoying habit of removing links and references from posts.
It gives an entirely false impression of your posts.
It makes the post look like made up unsupported opinion instead of something based on research and study.
It makes quotes in the original appear as the writers own writing.
Anyway, it misrepresents the contributors actual posting.
Maybe it is because, so called, “reporters” do not like to give references in their own articles. I suspect so that it is harder to catch them out in their lack of research, knowledge and objectivity. To often I have managed to find the research or paper the News article is based on, to find the newspaper article oversimplifies or totally misrepresents the original.
Ames takes a systematic look at the scores of rage killings in our public schools and workplaces that have taken place over the past 25 years. He claims that instead of being the work of psychopaths, they were carried out by ordinary people who had suffered repeated humiliation, bullying and inhumane conditions that find their origins in the “Reagan Revolution.” Looking through a carefully researched historical lens, Ames recasts these rage killings as failed slave rebellions.
I always read your links and I’m rarely disappointed.
Why do you think we have all of these “wage slave” and “temp slave” T-shirts and e-jokes around? Americans like to turn everything painfully true into a little quip, as if by quippifying the painful truth, as if by becoming self-aware of one’s shameful and intolerable existence, one partially nullifies one’s pain. This is what you’d call “slave humor.” Slaves did the same thing, turning their pain into quips.
Oh yes. I’ve worked in the past subcontracting into a US company working on several large projects. At first it’s like living in a 24hr sitcom. You really can’t keep up with their non-stop wisecrack, one-liners and put-downs… I recall my sides hurting from it.
Yet after a month or so it started to turn sour. While at one level they were good people and a lot of fun to be with, at another more personal, intimate level I found them very guarded and brittle. You could only get to know them so far… and that was it.
Under all the fun was a lot of hard-arsed bitterness.
And when people are put into an insane, inhuman culture and simply expected to try and cope, increases in mental illness and addictive behaviours can be fully expected.
I don’t intend to dimiss Ames’s analysis. But I think it’s only a contributory part of the problem. The increased sense of dislocation and stress etc, imposed on individuals in a neo liberal market environment doesn’t lead to random killings. It leads to psychotropic drug prescriptions. And those drugs often cause mayhem if they are stopped abruptly or not taken in a regular enough fashion.
Having put this line of argument out before, I know that some people will want to respond that the drugs are helpful and so on. But to be honest, I’ve had that discussion and don’t see much point in having it again.
Suffice to say, there is a body of thought within US psychiatric circles that claims all instances of random killings for no apparent reason (ie, killings like this Batman one) have psychotropic meds as a common underlying factor. From scanning some previous incidents, it appears to be true….at least so far and in relation to the incidents I’ve found and read press reports for. But I haven’t seen any mention of medication in this case.
So, what I would appreciate is if anyone comes across a news article that states James Holmes had recently been on psychotropic meds and had either stopped taking them or wasn’t taking them as prescribed, that they’d throw a quick link up here. Cheers.
It seems to me that Ames consistently ignores one thing most of these mass shooters have in common – that they are usually men. I can’t actually remember any such mass shooting by a woman.
Ames talks about the perps in non-gendered terms as “people”, “slaves” etc.
Why is it mainly men who respond this way? It doesn’t require a male’s superior strength to pull a trigger.
It seems to me that Ames consistently ignores one thing most of these mass shooters have in common â that they are usually men. I canât actually remember any such mass shooting by a woman
Gee sure looks like the timing will really put pressure on the Senate…I guess the next few days will tell us how much. Of course the Senate would not be swayed by the prepared MSM machine…
Correction: Women Against Rape did not criticise Julian Assangeâs legal team
On 16-17 January 2011, Women Against Rape was quoted in a number of papers as âcriticisingâ Julian Assangeâs legal team for including the names of the women making allegations against Mr Assange in their skeleton argument.
The articles gave a misleading impression of our views. We never criticised or even mentioned Mr Assangeâs legal defence in our comment to the Press Association. Following our complaint, the PA apologised for their mistake by circulating the advisory below with our full quote. Can you please publish and/or circulate this correction.
Press Association wire 19 January at 1635:
ADVISORY: In 1 POLITICS WikiLeaks (ASSANGE LEGAL TEAM UNDER FIRE AFTER ACCUSERS NAMED), sent at about 0245, on January 16, we reported that legal representatives of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had come under fire for inadvertently publicly naming two women who claim he raped them. Women Against Rape, which was quoted in the story, has asked us to make it clear that it did not criticise or even mention Mr Assangeâs legal team in their comment. The Press Association regrets that the story and its headline gave a misleading impression of the views expressed by Women Against Rape.
â¨For reference, the following is the full quote from Women Against Rape on the issue: âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks. In the last few months this has led to the publication on the internet of the names of the women involved, and to a call for women who report rape to lose their anonymity. Rape victimsâ right to anonymity and defendantsâ right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, are both crucial. We oppose the use of rape for political agendas which undermine protection and justice for both rape victim and accused. We are appalled that rape allegations may be manipulated to facilitate Mr Assangeâs extradition or even rendition to the US where elected officials have called for his execution for his Wikileaks activities. Women Against Rape cannot ignore this threat. We oppose the death penalty for any crime, let alone when no charges have been brought.â¨end
Yeah, Whatever dude. Some women think it’s a CIA plot, and they’re practically lesbians what with being anti rape and all, so the criminal complaints don’t need to be investigated.
” âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks.” – Yes they have, primarily by Julian Assange, who is worried about a rape conviction.
âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks.â â Yes they have, primarily by Julian Assange, who is worried about a rape conviction.
You need to do some serious reading on this topic. At the moment, you are ignorant.
Well now its our turn to have EQC and insurers smack us in the head. Thought we were tootling through the queue for repairs only to get a copy of a report which is blatantly dishonest and incomplete. So much so that the main broken parts of the house were not even referenced in the report.
EQC’s approach is complete and utter bullshit. Our experience is that they are totally dishonest – for the purpose of avoiding their due liability. Which is in fact fraud – misrepresentation for the purpose of pecuniary gain.
Some words of advice: Never ever trust EQC or an insurance company. Do everything to your house to avoid ever having to make a claim.
The simple fact is that the insurance companies don’t have the money to pay out to have everything that’s covered fixed. That goes for EQC as well. There’s no way that they could have as: a) they planned around the normal earthquake risk which doesn’t include entire cities collapsing, b) they misestimated the actual costs involved for the rebuild and thus c) they then thought that they could set prices well below costs (See Fletcher’s dropping painting down from $25/m to $19/m).
C) is the direct result of capitalists thinking that workers don’t actually have costs to cover and thus can be paid as little as the capitalists want to pay
I hear that branch staff are being pressured to become sales people, being asked to literally go out door knocking to recruit new customers. If they don’t meet their targets they are being told that their jobs will be at risk.
And where is this high pressure sales drive coming from? Surprise surprise, we have a former Westpac senior banker now in charge of the former PSIS.
Alex Jones is not as enamoured by the Truth movement as you might think. He gets a certain level of respect for the years of exposing the media lies we all swallow and has tirelessy fought a good fight. He is also widely reagrded as a loud and often unstable voice with a tendancy to jump into rivers before checking their depth. His manner of attack and his willingness to throw baseless accusations into serious discussion and his ever growing ‘God is the way to truth!’ message costs him as many listeners as it wins him. There are also some great rumours that he is a deep cover co-intel operative….ooooh! For many who use InfoWars it is the excellent library of resources they offer and the very well researched articles by some of the staffers that have kept the place alive. It only took a few minutes for the first ‘it’s all a gov op’ stories to hit the wires. Then again Alex is not the only one throwing spurious accusations around on this story.
The media have as usual decided what they want you to believe. Early this a.m. NZ time, I watched a talking head breathlessly announce that an affiliate had spoken to the Mother of the shooter. It was reported at the time that the affiliate asked the woman if her son lived in Aurora Colorado? That was how it was reported. An inquiry to confirm the familial relationship. The Mother is reported to have said, “yes you have the right person”.
At the time this was reported as the mother simply confirming that her son lived in Aurora. This [most likely innocent] statement is now being reported twisted and corrupted by all networks as if the Mother was asked if she was aware that her son was the shooter and that her affirmation is stating she was aware her son was a sociopathic nutter. This thread of the story has already been so twisted and misrepresented that it has destroyed any possibility of the original broadcast ever being seen or heard of again.
PB, anyone who reads, thinks and forms opinions relying too much on any source, really is not in a good position to form opinions with any foundational basis, let alone cast them out in public.
If one is able to suspend bias and emotional attachments to reading matter, and reads enough variation over a period of time, it becomes very easy to spot BS at a distance.
The critical factor is being able to dethatch from bias, also known as pre conceived ideas, which explicitly requires the individual to know themself well.. Read from as many media sources as possible, left, right and centre from as many different angles as you can get. Speak with people you have some faith in, and check for people thoughts etc from decent blogs such as this site. Over time, if open enough, and free from bias, the words really will just reek of shit when you read them, or hear them,, its called using your intuition, which humans have had dulled/removed over the past decades, where they mostly believe what they are told, and that’s enough for them!
For mine, I am calling BS on this shooting spree, massive false flag, just like Norway, with too much else going on around the second amendment for years. See fast and furious, Eric Holder if you don’t know what I am talking about. This is all about attempting to disarm the American people, using the worst type of scare tactics you could imagine, and then bestowing to the UN even more sovereignty as the empowered authority in the global structure, once the treaty I linked to previously is signed!
Whatever the solution wanted by those in control actually is, could be varied from my thoughts around this event, but I still call false flag.
We have seen the “problem”, we are getting, and will get the “reaction” over the near term, as shaped by the MSM, which will lead to the “solution” being provided. Its really only once the solution is being offered forward that the agenda become clearer, but there is more than enough history around the second amendment to see where this event fits in.
Its tragic to see yet more innocent people used to create a desired outcome, but its standard MO, so its not in any way a surprise. The new “enemy” is being clearly defined, and was called some time back, its gone from “brown faces abroad” (even though they are still getting fucked), to “white faces” at home.
Just follow along the media narrative, as that will tell you much of the underlying intentions.
At the end of the day, we all get the society, and the puppet masters which we allow to create our environment for us, that society as a whole deserves!
Doesn’t look like the west deserves too much these days!
“Quite clearly analysing events without resorting to any pre-concieved ideas about whatâs going on there muzza. Yep.”
–Not at all, I read the early headlines, and some articles from this “shooting spree”, and drew my own conclusion, that it stinks.
Other statements above are my own conjecture on where this could tie in elsewhere, because little happens in silo. That does not mean one can’t evaluate something in silo, or not and still keep bias out. Just means you have to be prepared to factor various possibilities in as well.
“The new âenemyâ is being clearly defined, and was called some time back, its gone from âbrown faces abroadâ (even though they are still getting fucked), to âwhite facesâ at home.”
Yeah, they are clearly being oppressed. Here’s a list of them that have been disappeared by ZOG on obvioulsy trumped up charges following one of them there judicial activism rulings taking away their shootin irons. They’re probably all in FEMA camps.
SPLC, sponsored by “Hatewatch”…either way it illustrates nicely how the charade works in “media”.
Whatever this event, does or does not equal, is always going to be drowned in information of all, and every type imaginable, which of course is designed for no other reason than to misinform, and confuse.
Getting to opinion state is a matter of individual preferences, and a myriad of other factors, assuming people are putting a degree of effort into forming them!
And like I said, when the argument is made that guns protect your freedoms and liberties, ask why one or two incidents of voter fraud can be used to justify taking away the freedom and liberty to vote, yet graveyards full of dead fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are not justification to take away the liberty of gun nuts to stockpile weapons of mass murder and why Joe The Plumber gets to own a rack of bigger better guns than Paul The Policeman sent to stop him shooting his neighbours.
“sighâŚone a damning indictment and the other crackpot cynicism and dishonesty, Iâd certainly hope not muzza.”
–Thats a big sigh jo too much net time eh…. For mine an “unwell man” could be used as a false flag, quite easily in fact!
While not a big gun person myself, I will say that guns are not the problem. Simplistically its as bad as the article saying the Brits are capable of “adult conversation”, I almost snorted when I read that nonsense!
Lets just make sure that the “authorities and other assorted crooked officialdom” are the only tooled up people, I reckon society will be just peachy if that is achieved. / Gee, can you tell me another story papa!
Why do the Nats project so much of their own failings on to the opposition?
Paula Bennett – “social obligations”…. on parents on DBP? What about social obligations of the government to enable jobs that pay a living wage? To provide a livable society and environment?
Bill English – “planet Labour”…. as though NAct aren’t in their own neoliberal parallel universe that denies the reality of peak everything?
Steven Joyce – on Labour’s “fairytales” – and Joyce’s own little crony capitalist “reality” that denies the reality of the large numbers of people with low incomes and little power? And who believes in RONs as the road to prosperity?
Bill English 2008: “”No country can afford ongoing migration losses of this size relative to its total workforce. The problems are showing up most visibly in the professional workforce”.
Bill English 2012 : “What’s the point of standing in the airport crying about it?”
“In the immediate future, National’s infrastructure plan will create jobs and growth opportunities for businesses, while, in the medium-term, providing the conditions and assets needed to put our economy on to a strong growth path.
Away from the welfare changes, the economy dominated the day, with Finance Minister Bill English explaining the current economic downturn could last “a generation”.
âThe global economy is the dark cloud on the horizon and it’s not going away for a generation, certainly 15 or 20 years anyway,â says Mr English.
âWe’ve certainly had huge change,â says John Key. âIt will take some time to bounce back.â
If the 49% that the government plans to sell in MRP, GEN, MERI, end up in the hands of the community trusts that own the local network companies.
Then the companies can be run in the *genuine* interest of power consumbers, not private shareholders.
Solid Energy is one of the biggest employers on the West Coast. Imagine if the holding companies of Westland and Buller councils each purchased shareholdings?
The governments plan to dilute public ownership would be well and truly sunk.
Maybe you could add âclassistâ to this self-assessment?
Â
Â
Locus, could you please explain what it is you mean by the above remark? Oh, by the whole posting? I am not a self-righteous prat, because I am not the one telling other people where they fail my high standards, and where they fall down…
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes –Â New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern â and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her governmentâs ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As weâve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealandâs biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealandâs biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a âmoisture-ladenâ long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own governmentâs fiscal policies raised issues of substance. âToday in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media â sure enough â have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willisâ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra â that the Budget âwill deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing.  Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Itâs becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-MÄori andâŚ. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you donât like and donât ...
Don Brash writes –Â As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that countryâs mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isnât already pretty well-off? Itâs as if protecting landlordsâ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of Nationalâs ...
 Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, itâs that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxonâs ...
Robert MacCulloch writes –Â The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this yearâs Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran OâSullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm â a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon â note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinsonâs analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana â or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. Itâs a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealandâs highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes –Â Â Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – âIt is often said that behind every great man is a great womanâ. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their âLadies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxonâ. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Petersâ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes â If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshubâs closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Governmentâs plan to âget Auckland movingâ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities sheâs meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Governmentâs archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the Americaâs Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it wonât stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Memberâs Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labourâs change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand Firstâs State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared âco-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te PÄti MÄori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. âIâm calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to âtake back our countryâ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jonesâ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Governmentâs fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Governmentâs miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesnât act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. âIt was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. âThe Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend.  âThis travel will focus on a range of New Zealandâs traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,â Mr Peters says.  Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. âRoad safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. âOur relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliamentâs order paper. âThe Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,â Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams wonât be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. âThe coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. âDam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. âI have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. âThe Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the governmentâs finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Governmentâs Budget objectives. âThe coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says.                                        âThe Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says.  âThese changes are long overdue â the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealandâs growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Ministerâs Prizes for Space today. âNew Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealandâs concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. Â Â âThe Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Educationâs School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. âThere is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âToday I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. âThe use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,â Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. âWeâre sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealandâs ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. Â Â âI am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. âI have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commissionâs online consultation portal.â Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. âComprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. âI would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. âThis is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women donât ...
Good morning, itâs great to be here.  First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Governmentâs ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Governmentâs commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools MÄori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. âThe Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, Iâm proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of todayâs address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and Iâm sorry I canât be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the WhangÄrei site where the facility will be constructed. âNorthland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata MÄori 20 years ago, says MÄori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisationâs 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesiaâs army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealandâs Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The countryâs largest trade union â The Public Service Association â says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership sheâs hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article â Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? â looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pickânâmix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If youâre at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, donât panic: The Spinoffâs got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but letâs be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time â but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who havenât accessed support to come forward and engage with the councilâs recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “Itâs official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “weâre in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliamentâs forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the âdisappearanceâ of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people âsequesteredâ in this weekâs raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Itâs Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether youâre a boomer, or an â80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fijiâs Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? â Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems thereâs one luxury most Australians wonât sacrifice â their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Educationâs claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxonâs fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20â24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50â44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayersâ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the Peopleâs Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether youâre facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, itâs always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. Itâs an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting âoff the booksâ illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Governmentâs announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is âshamefulâ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain â a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata MÄori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is âfar-off sightâ. In the contemporary and living language of te reo MÄori, âwhakaataâ as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israelâs war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Governmentâs decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for âDead in Bedâ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research â and large-scale commercialisation. Whatâs beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martinâs favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martinâs fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Heraâs help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. Iâm 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queenâs crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday â and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli militaryâs genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldnât give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this yearâs budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayersâ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Departmentâs Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayersâ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the countryâs top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, MÄori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
I am increasingly thinking that cities like Auckland are on the wrong track in moving towards a more centralised organisation. I want to link together comments from a couple of threads yesterday.
On the lost in suburbia thread, a couple of us argued for decentralisation:
I commented on the way the shift to Auckland supercity has meant more people traveling across and into Auckland, and more cultural establishments/buildings etc being situated in the centre of Auckland:
http://thestandard.org.nz/stranded-in-suburbia/comment-page-1/#comment-495847
Weka referred to “Australian sustainability expert David Holmgren” who argues for decentralising CBDs and creating more localised and accessible hubs.
http://thestandard.org.nz/stranded-in-suburbia/comment-page-1/#comment-495932
Penny Bright, on open mike last night, provides evidence of a conflict of interest involved in the buying of the ASB building by the Auckland Council, in order to make it a bigger HQ for the council:
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20072012/comment-page-1/#comment-495949
It seems Peter George Wall is both one of 2 directors of the business, Brookfield Multiplex, that currently owns the building. He is also on the executive team of Auckland Council Property Ltd.
All this Auckland Council centralisation seems to be in the interests of the cultural and business elite in central Auckland. This is what those of us in west and South Auckland didn’t want when we voted Brown for mayor, rather than Banks. But it seems the crony capitalists of central Auckland are still getting their way, while a large proportion of the less wealthy and powerful languish in the suburbs.
I should temper this argument with acknowledgement that some local boards have significant plans to upgrade their areas as important living and working hubs (e.g. in New Lynn and Massey), but those boards have been created to have less power than the top of the Auckland Council pyramid.
It is the most spectacular legislated monopoly, and those characteristics get really evident within the CCOs.
In terms of supporting elites, my principle concern is that there is a helluvalot being spent on transport capex, but very little on social housing, directed toward softening the massive housing crisis.
Are there any structural changes proposed for this CCO setup from either the Greens or Labour?
Pretty unfortunate the way Brownlee squashed the Mayor’s ideas for alternative funding. The alternative funding package is the gap between business as usual and the Auckland Plan targets i.e. no alternative funding, probably no rail tunnel, probably no Avondale-Southdown line, probably no Harbour tunnel, etc etc. AucklandTransportBlog have been the best at holding Tranport CCO to account.
Could probably do with a property-focussed blog to scrutinize as well.
Yes, the whole CCO set-up, and central government veto are at the heart of the problem. I see that bomber also blogged about it yesterday:
http://www.tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/lens-12-2day-monthly-11million-dinner.html
Auckland is an isthmus. Cities like London grew out of villages that then grew and connected up, making rail much more efficient since they just place the stations under.
Auckland is an isthmus. Long ago Auckland should have been creating a line of town centers leading south, and have by now connected them with stations in the town centers, not a km off to the side.
NZ will be forever be shackled in its growth due to the Aucklands nature limitations.
Ah, but there lies some of Auckland’s potential future transport…. just like Maori did way back then – water transport – sail etc.
Now was that a good thing or a bad thing đ
Well talk to Len and sort it out. what’s the problem? Just as well John Banks didn’t get in, isn’t it?
Pro-democracy Labour Branches, LECs and Sector groups must have their Amendments to the NZ Councils proposed rules lodged by the end of August. They need to watch the four month rule.
Read the full Constitution carefully and look at where the rule changes remove or shrink many components of democracy. There is some erroneous guidance in emails from the Gen Sec as to what the NZ Council and the Conference can and cannot decide. Get stuck onto the nuts and bolts of how our party works. Much of the findings of the advisory group that visited all the regions (Rick Barker et al) has had the eyes picked out of it. The time has come for those who see the big picture to roll up their sleeves and to get stuck in. Otherwise the democracy of the Labour Party will be pulled from under your feet. BE ALERT.
It’s interesting isn’t it. We all have our barrows to push. Living where I do, I cannot understand why the park and ride at Silverdale was stopped, and Penlink put on the back burner.
Looking at the broader picture, the secrecy that can veil the CCOs is a real worry. In most jobs transparency is crucial, why is politics the exception?
Well you can hardly claim to be an anonymous donor if everything’s done in public, can you?
laaarf.
Silverdale Park and Ride is waiting for the private developer to get their shit together.
Penlink just didn’t have the benefits to go in front of things like AMETI or Tiverton-Wolverton or such. It’s still in the RLTP, just a few years back.
Interestingly, upon CNN this am, discussion of wealthy Americans fleeing (my choice of action word) North America.
Fleeing to settle some place else. possibly the new frontier of the antipodean “wild, wild, west”
Well, theres a “new sherriff in town” and “this town aint big enough for the both of US”
(long memories and short, slow, boat to China)
But they sure do have some big guns on those battle-ships, settling further across the Pacific.
What happened to the investigation into The Living Wage? All gone quiet on that front. The more I read about the struggle to put food on the table and a roof over heads, the living wage seems a better and better idea.
Its okay to discriminate, as long as you don’t tell anyone why you are, and its not obvious.
You are bleeding kidding me, NZ is not about fairness, fairness only happens when the
politicians fear upsetting you. And that means only the rich at the moment gets them stressed.
You much remember that hopelessly stupid statement must be ridiculed if they come from
a poor person, but if Glen says wifes turn to seeking status, you cannot point out that his whole
purpose in working is to create status for himself. As we know, work is essential part of
a person identity, that’s the whole basis for the work testing, that the state has the right
to tell poor people to get work since work is good for them. Living wage, not going to happen
until we have mass movements that government shits itself rather than awaken from their apathy.
Who was doing an “investigation” into the living wage?
The title of this website:
https://www.myopinioncounts.co.nz/home.php
purports to encourage people to express opinions, but it is possible that by signing in all that would happen would be to add to the number of people they would claim support smoking. Has anyone signed in and fund out whether it is possible to then express an opinion? Or see the opinions of others? Are any of those opinions against the Philip Morris views, or does my opinion not count?
It also enables the company to get hold of addresses so they can send out ‘newsletters’ – branded and colour-coded. Stealth marketing at it’s most cynical, I reckon.
The “information we share” section in the privacy policy gives a pretty open indication that their ‘affiliates’ will contact the subscriber.
Will those ‘newsletters’ breach any law, in fact it’s a perfectly legal product, tobacco that is, so what actual right have you or anyone else got to interfere in my or anyone else’s legal use of a legal product…
Kronic BS no body has died from that rubbish yet so it should be legalized according to your analogy.
If tobacco was a new product to the market it would immediately be made illegal and those pushing it would be locked up for a very long time.
All other illegal drugs used in NZ since have caused less than deaths in a 100 years less than 500 than tobacco does in one year. That’s less than 0.1%yet the laws against these illegal drugs are draconian by comparison.
Tobacco= legal product….
Bad12, We know what is best for you.
Laugh, Yes if i read all the comments in the debate on ‘tobacco’ in today’s Open Mike it appears that there are more than a few that know what’s best for me,
So much so that when i ask a logical question like, IF as the produced stats say, tobacco use has declined by 6% since 1999, where in the health stats is the equivalent decline in the deaths from heart disease, there is no answer,
Heart disease is a biggy for the ASH fanatics to have included in the statistics of tobacco use caused deaths and as the ASH fanatics didn’t really get called on the Bullshit of ”tobacco use MIGHT cause heart disease”, on cigarette packets that has now graduated to the even bigger Bullshit of ”tobacco use CAUSES heart disease”,
In today’s debate i have been ”playing with a straight bat”,but, can anyone imagine the ‘Bizniss’ Government of National really going after the tobacco industry???,
Hardly, National have just seized upon a perfect means of revenue raising through tobacco excise tax which directly attacks the income of those mostly on low incomes who are the majority by far of tobacco users knowing that ‘the left’ wont object because the justification for such tax is coming directly from ‘professional lefty’s in the health system’…
Yes, I have always seen it as a class thing! The uppers drink fine wine, and the lowers smoke.
I’m not interfering in your use of the product. However I’d prefer you didn’t use it in spaces we may share. I’m interested in whether the people who profit from that product continue to market it. Surely marketing has no effect on smokers – so there is no reason for you to be concerned if that is restricted.
When the stated aim of Government is to have ‘NZ smoke-free by 2020’ then everything Government does after making such a pronouncement is an attempt to curtail the legal rights of a certain section of society,
I have the legal right to use tobacco products as does a tobacco company wishing to sell the product to me,
I agree with your right to not have me use those tobacco products in a public space that you at any time might occupy…
Yes, you have a legal right to use a product that they legally sell. My comment above is not about that – it was about whether this site will be used as a marketing tool.
And yes, it may breach the law if marketed in NZ – hence my interest in the privacy policy affiliates. Who are they? where are they based will that get around legal restrictions?
How do you feel about the tobacco companies’ right to market their product given that established smokers (like established drinkers and alcohol) say it has no impact on their use of the product? – because they are marketing, just look at the publicity since they launched the site – Who are they marketing it to? And if it is young non-smokers is that ethical, in your opinion?
Firstly, as a smoker of some 43 years i have yet to see the health profession put a time line on the ‘smoking kills’ inflamation, (as opposed to information),
Second,and i have posted this a number of times on this web-site and others, IF any Government were serious about having people QUIT smoking and NOT allowing those under 18 to use and become addicted to tobacco products that Government only need declare Tobacco to be in the same category as ‘party pills’, make it’s continuing use a matter of doctors prescription to manage those presently addicted and disallow anyone presently under the age of 18 from being able to register as an addict,
The fact is that it is YOU, the likes of ASH, and various others who do not smoke who in fact are the TOOLS being used by Government to allow my legal rights to use a legal product to be continually infringed upon,
How do i feel about tobacco company’s being able to advertize, on one level i don’t give a toss,plain packaging will only restrict smokers with a taste,habit,addiction to a particular brand, the young when they smoke, mostly unable to afford whole packet purchases, will smoke any old tobacco that is available,
Having said the above, i come full circle, as tobacco is a legal product Government does not in my opinion have the legal right to restrict the products advertising anymore than it does any other legal product available to be sold…
So after an irrelevant 3 paragraph rant (I’ve not said anything that infringes your right to smoke, except that I’d prefer you didn’t smoke in places we might share), you finally [sort of] address the questions by basically saying you couldn’t give a toss if giant corporates market their addictive product to young people. Good-oh.
Being a tool of politicians and ASH loony’s seems to have it’s health side-effects like tobacco use, seems to have made you go both blind and lose any sense of comprehension at the same time,
In spite of all the current restrictions, in spite of the rack raising of excise tax on tobacco products, in spite of the only advertizing on TV concerning tobacco products being the anti- attempt at brainwashing, the young (and by that i mean under the age of 18), continue to take up tobacco use at the same rates they did prior to the concerted efforts to stop them,
In the young,and here i address college aged kids there is now a definite ‘black-market’ in tobacco products, it is not as yet confined in a ‘young criminal element’ it is a floating market in the nature of whomever can get their hands upon the product on any given day sells to their mates at the rate of 2 bucks a ciggy,
Such a growing black-market does not differentiate over product brands and tends to suggest that those under the age of 18, supposedly those who the plain packaging is aimed at, will not be effected one iota by such plain packaging as a deterrent…
Smoking in young people is declining
I reckon it’s worth continuing to restrict advertising to until there is a clear picture on this – because the later people start smoking, the less likely addiction is to take hold. And seeing as advertising doesn’t affect your right to smoke one iota, I can’t for the life of me see why you have a problem with this. I mean if I had my way I’d restrict all advertising – consumer culture of whatever type does nobody, nor the environment, any good.
Advertising needs to be banned. Once it is we’ll have a hell of a lot more wealth with which to work.
Or, because of the demonization of ‘smoking’ the number of young people willing to admit that they use tobacco products is declining,
My view= a bit of both…
Heres another for the statistically minded, if in 20 years the use of tobacco products has fallen by 6% where in the health statistics is the corresponding fall in the New Zealand rate of those who die of Heart Disease,(the use of tobacco products supposedly now a major cause of such)…
Utter nonsense! I started when I was 27, having spent all of my childhood and teens very a self-righteous anti-smoking prat. I quit a few years later, then started again when I was 37!
The snobbery element is very strong. The upper class kids I meet are all ‘Oh get that cigarette away from me, you scruffy old biddy’. The lower class kids smoke. If I were in any trouble, I’d far rather ask a smoker for help – a non-smoker would want to spend hours, days or weeks telling me why whatever problem I had was my own fault for being (a) old (b) a beneficiary (c) a smoker (d) poor and/or (e) unmarried.Â
This even if all I wanted them to do was help me change a lightbulb as I’m 1.5 metres tall and the ceiling is 2.5 metres! đ
Bad12 – I’m quite happy to leave extrapolating Japanese non-smokers’ heart disease with New Zealand smokers’ heart disease to you. Similarly the effects of increasingly poor diets and increasing rates of inactivity leading to rises in heart disease compared with reduced heart disease from reduced smoking rates.
Vicky32 – yeah, I had my first cigarette when I was about 12, gave up when I was 15 because it was no good for the baby đ But I do realise that individual experiences, while important, are not necessarily significant in terms of the overall population.
Vicky32 – it would appear that you are indeed no longer “anti-smoking”, but i for one would question whether you have moved on from being “a self-righteous prat”. Maybe you could add “classist” to this self-assessment?
I quite agree bad, and I’d guess that when the govt gets to the point of banning smoking that that is exactly what it will do (as opposed to just making tobacco illegal).
Â
I don’t really see what the problem is. If you don’t mind sales being restricted in this way, and you are happy to not smoke around other people, then what’s wrong?
Â
Also, you use the term legal right as if you have free access to smoking. You don’t. Tobacco is already subject to a number of laws, including around sale, who can grow it, and where it can be used. Even when I smoked 30 years ago there were laws regulating tobacco. It’s been a long time since there was any degree of freedom around tobacco.
Â
Â
Do you not tho see the arse about face nature of the present situation, we have a Government saying that in an effort to FORCE me to not use a product that is legally for sale across the nation i will be forced to pay more and more for that product through the addition of excise taxes,
IF tobacco products are able to be legally sold which they are where then does any Government have the legal right to try and force me not to use the product???…
Ok, that probably got lost in the ranting đ
Â
Yes, the first point makes completes sense. I would be highly annoyed if my drug of choice had increasing taxes put on it. And I also agree that there are social justice issues here.
Â
The second point I disagree with. Tobacco already has many restrictions on its legality, and the govt definitely has the right to increase restrictions where there is a public health risk (which there patently is).
Â
Instead of increasing taxes they should just go straight to prescription only. And people should be allowed to grow their own. But which govt is going to do that?Â
Â
btw, alcohol has a massive tax on it. Are you in favour of that being taken off?
Â
How about petrol?
Â
Road user charges?
Â
Â
Â
Â
My point being that the Government is trying to force me to STOP using a legal product,
The intention as stated by Government is ‘for a smoke-free New Zealand by such and such a date’
Therein lies the difference between taxes on other products that you list, the stated intention for those taxes is to cover the additional cost to the community of those using those products,
No,no,no,tobacco has restrictions upon where and to who it can be sold to and from, these are not restrictions on tobacco’s overall legality as a product sold…
OK, so maybe it’s more akin to not allowing people to use woodburners in Chch anymore, or bringing in legislation to reduce car emissions. From a public health perspective, it makes sense and I don’t have a problem with the govt’s intention. I do have an ethical problem with taxing the poor though.
Do you have a link to the govts plant to enforce smoke free by 2020?
It’s been pushed to 2025.
No idea, but they’re using some fairly manipulative copy on that site. For instance the visual saying Outdoor Smoking Bans? (read more), then slides across to show Behind Closed Doors? (read more). My immediate thought was it would be about plans to ban people smoking at home, but it’s merely that shops will no longer be allowed to display brands to customers.
Â
The only thing I can see that shows what joining does is this. It doesn’t really make sense though.
Â
I joined, but more to piss off the self-righteous than for any other reason! đ
Yes to the first 2 questions,No to the 3rd, don’t know to the 4th, and on the 5th as it’s a web-site specifically set up by a tobacco company to gauge the opinion of those who use tobacco products i would guess it’s a big YES your opinion on that particular web-site don’t count,
The fact that from the Government on down to the ‘average wowzing wanker in the street’ want to prohibit me from using what is a perfectly legal product points to a serious case of the asylum of Western democracy definitely being taken over by the loony’s,
Tobacco company’s do not need to inflate the numbers of those who ‘support smoking’, there are approximately 600,000 of us and as the site is in it’s infancy, (the ASH fanatics having had a 20 year head start), it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from a ‘smokers web-site’,
Should this ”smokers web-site’ be able to bring together a large proportion of those who use tobacco products their will obviously be political ramifications and i would hope at least 1 high Court case testing the Government’s legality in it’s stated attempts to stop people from using what is a perfectly legal product…
Anyone else who posts to NZ Herald online comments noticed their annoying habit of removing links and references from posts.
It gives an entirely false impression of your posts.
It makes the post look like made up unsupported opinion instead of something based on research and study.
It makes quotes in the original appear as the writers own writing.
Anyway, it misrepresents the contributors actual posting.
Maybe it is because, so called, “reporters” do not like to give references in their own articles. I suspect so that it is harder to catch them out in their lack of research, knowledge and objectivity. To often I have managed to find the research or paper the News article is based on, to find the newspaper article oversimplifies or totally misrepresents the original.
Neoliberalism: the weaponisation of economic theory
This is a very very good synopsis of what is going on.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-20/weaponization-economic-theory
Following another mass shooting in the US this 2005 interview with Mark Ames joins a few dots.
A Brief History of Rage, Murder and Rebellion.
Ames takes a systematic look at the scores of rage killings in our public schools and workplaces that have taken place over the past 25 years. He claims that instead of being the work of psychopaths, they were carried out by ordinary people who had suffered repeated humiliation, bullying and inhumane conditions that find their origins in the “Reagan Revolution.” Looking through a carefully researched historical lens, Ames recasts these rage killings as failed slave rebellions.
joe…
I always read your links and I’m rarely disappointed.
Why do you think we have all of these “wage slave” and “temp slave” T-shirts and e-jokes around? Americans like to turn everything painfully true into a little quip, as if by quippifying the painful truth, as if by becoming self-aware of one’s shameful and intolerable existence, one partially nullifies one’s pain. This is what you’d call “slave humor.” Slaves did the same thing, turning their pain into quips.
Oh yes. I’ve worked in the past subcontracting into a US company working on several large projects. At first it’s like living in a 24hr sitcom. You really can’t keep up with their non-stop wisecrack, one-liners and put-downs… I recall my sides hurting from it.
Yet after a month or so it started to turn sour. While at one level they were good people and a lot of fun to be with, at another more personal, intimate level I found them very guarded and brittle. You could only get to know them so far… and that was it.
Under all the fun was a lot of hard-arsed bitterness.
Its a mistake to think that rats don’t realise that they have been caged and put on the wheel.
thanks joe
So true.
And when people are put into an insane, inhuman culture and simply expected to try and cope, increases in mental illness and addictive behaviours can be fully expected.
I don’t intend to dimiss Ames’s analysis. But I think it’s only a contributory part of the problem. The increased sense of dislocation and stress etc, imposed on individuals in a neo liberal market environment doesn’t lead to random killings. It leads to psychotropic drug prescriptions. And those drugs often cause mayhem if they are stopped abruptly or not taken in a regular enough fashion.
Having put this line of argument out before, I know that some people will want to respond that the drugs are helpful and so on. But to be honest, I’ve had that discussion and don’t see much point in having it again.
Suffice to say, there is a body of thought within US psychiatric circles that claims all instances of random killings for no apparent reason (ie, killings like this Batman one) have psychotropic meds as a common underlying factor. From scanning some previous incidents, it appears to be true….at least so far and in relation to the incidents I’ve found and read press reports for. But I haven’t seen any mention of medication in this case.
So, what I would appreciate is if anyone comes across a news article that states James Holmes had recently been on psychotropic meds and had either stopped taking them or wasn’t taking them as prescribed, that they’d throw a quick link up here. Cheers.
There are so many shootings in the US that we hear nothing about. I don’t know how many can be put down to rage, meds or anything else:
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/major-shootings.pdf
It seems to me that Ames consistently ignores one thing most of these mass shooters have in common – that they are usually men. I can’t actually remember any such mass shooting by a woman.
Ames talks about the perps in non-gendered terms as “people”, “slaves” etc.
Why is it mainly men who respond this way? It doesn’t require a male’s superior strength to pull a trigger.
I expect that women tend to turn their anger and frustration against themselves, as compared to men.
Absolutely right Carol!
This is true – and unbelievable:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/07/departing-imf-economist-blasts-fund.html
The treaty seems unlikely to ever receive the two-thirds majority necessary to be ratified by the US Senate,
I wonder how the Senate might react after this latest “incident”, involving a white guy and guns…
Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes was in the process of withdrawing from a doctorate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver,
Gee sure looks like the timing will really put pressure on the Senate…I guess the next few days will tell us how much. Of course the Senate would not be swayed by the prepared MSM machine…
http://www.womenagainstrape.net/content/correction-women-against-rape-did-not-criticise-ju
Correction: Women Against Rape did not criticise Julian Assangeâs legal team
On 16-17 January 2011, Women Against Rape was quoted in a number of papers as âcriticisingâ Julian Assangeâs legal team for including the names of the women making allegations against Mr Assange in their skeleton argument.
The articles gave a misleading impression of our views. We never criticised or even mentioned Mr Assangeâs legal defence in our comment to the Press Association. Following our complaint, the PA apologised for their mistake by circulating the advisory below with our full quote. Can you please publish and/or circulate this correction.
Press Association wire 19 January at 1635:
ADVISORY: In 1 POLITICS WikiLeaks (ASSANGE LEGAL TEAM UNDER FIRE AFTER ACCUSERS NAMED), sent at about 0245, on January 16, we reported that legal representatives of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had come under fire for inadvertently publicly naming two women who claim he raped them. Women Against Rape, which was quoted in the story, has asked us to make it clear that it did not criticise or even mention Mr Assangeâs legal team in their comment. The Press Association regrets that the story and its headline gave a misleading impression of the views expressed by Women Against Rape.
â¨For reference, the following is the full quote from Women Against Rape on the issue: âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks. In the last few months this has led to the publication on the internet of the names of the women involved, and to a call for women who report rape to lose their anonymity. Rape victimsâ right to anonymity and defendantsâ right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, are both crucial. We oppose the use of rape for political agendas which undermine protection and justice for both rape victim and accused. We are appalled that rape allegations may be manipulated to facilitate Mr Assangeâs extradition or even rendition to the US where elected officials have called for his execution for his Wikileaks activities. Women Against Rape cannot ignore this threat. We oppose the death penalty for any crime, let alone when no charges have been brought.â¨end
http://www.womenagainstrape.net/content/correction-women-against-rape-did-not-criticise-ju
Yeah, Whatever dude. Some women think it’s a CIA plot, and they’re practically lesbians what with being anti rape and all, so the criminal complaints don’t need to be investigated.
Yeah, Whatever dude.
Another brilliant rejoinder. You obviously win a lot of debates with such tactics.
I like the way you suddenly start fantasizing about lesbians.
Love your routine, my friend.
” âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks.” – Yes they have, primarily by Julian Assange, who is worried about a rape conviction.
And more worried about serving time for a Swedish rape conviction at Guantanamo Bay.
or is using that as a nice, if far fetched, excuse to avoid a rape investigation.
Now I wish I’d bought that bag of burger rings from the supermarket today. It’s going to be a long night.
âThe rape allegations against Julian Assange have become entangled with the politics centred on WikiLeaks.â â Yes they have, primarily by Julian Assange, who is worried about a rape conviction.
You need to do some serious reading on this topic. At the moment, you are ignorant.
Well now its our turn to have EQC and insurers smack us in the head. Thought we were tootling through the queue for repairs only to get a copy of a report which is blatantly dishonest and incomplete. So much so that the main broken parts of the house were not even referenced in the report.
EQC’s approach is complete and utter bullshit. Our experience is that they are totally dishonest – for the purpose of avoiding their due liability. Which is in fact fraud – misrepresentation for the purpose of pecuniary gain.
Some words of advice: Never ever trust EQC or an insurance company. Do everything to your house to avoid ever having to make a claim.
The simple fact is that the insurance companies don’t have the money to pay out to have everything that’s covered fixed. That goes for EQC as well. There’s no way that they could have as: a) they planned around the normal earthquake risk which doesn’t include entire cities collapsing, b) they misestimated the actual costs involved for the rebuild and thus c) they then thought that they could set prices well below costs (See Fletcher’s dropping painting down from $25/m to $19/m).
C) is the direct result of capitalists thinking that workers don’t actually have costs to cover and thus can be paid as little as the capitalists want to pay
EQC (and ACC) have the money to pay all valid claims – they have an unlimited guarantee by government. Also, neither are insurance companies.
It does however appear that our current government has a desire to reduce claim payments – despite payments being set out in legislation.
Any Red Alert monitors on-line? The Constitutional debate should be there. The last post is 18th July!
Labour should have a members only space.
Oops the Place for Labour feedback is on Labour.org.nz/yoursay
Do they harvest your emails from that site?
Certainly not impossible. Do they have a privacy policy statement which might shed some light?
Ethos of Co-operative Bank being screwed with
I hear that branch staff are being pressured to become sales people, being asked to literally go out door knocking to recruit new customers. If they don’t meet their targets they are being told that their jobs will be at risk.
And where is this high pressure sales drive coming from? Surprise surprise, we have a former Westpac senior banker now in charge of the former PSIS.
http://www.interest.co.nz/news/59879/co-operative-bank-appoints-former-westpac-nz-acting-ceo-bruce-mclachlan-ceo-and-reports-f
And behind every CEO, we also have to remember the Board who appointed him and is giving him strategic direction.
oh well.
I was just going to post a link to the Truthers favourite newsman reacting to the denver shootings. But I see muzza beat me to the skinny on it.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/280878_Alex_Jones_Says_Aurora_Shootin
Alex Jones is not as enamoured by the Truth movement as you might think. He gets a certain level of respect for the years of exposing the media lies we all swallow and has tirelessy fought a good fight. He is also widely reagrded as a loud and often unstable voice with a tendancy to jump into rivers before checking their depth. His manner of attack and his willingness to throw baseless accusations into serious discussion and his ever growing ‘God is the way to truth!’ message costs him as many listeners as it wins him. There are also some great rumours that he is a deep cover co-intel operative….ooooh! For many who use InfoWars it is the excellent library of resources they offer and the very well researched articles by some of the staffers that have kept the place alive. It only took a few minutes for the first ‘it’s all a gov op’ stories to hit the wires. Then again Alex is not the only one throwing spurious accusations around on this story.
The media have as usual decided what they want you to believe. Early this a.m. NZ time, I watched a talking head breathlessly announce that an affiliate had spoken to the Mother of the shooter. It was reported at the time that the affiliate asked the woman if her son lived in Aurora Colorado? That was how it was reported. An inquiry to confirm the familial relationship. The Mother is reported to have said, “yes you have the right person”.
At the time this was reported as the mother simply confirming that her son lived in Aurora. This [most likely innocent] statement is now being reported twisted and corrupted by all networks as if the Mother was asked if she was aware that her son was the shooter and that her affirmation is stating she was aware her son was a sociopathic nutter. This thread of the story has already been so twisted and misrepresented that it has destroyed any possibility of the original broadcast ever being seen or heard of again.
PB, anyone who reads, thinks and forms opinions relying too much on any source, really is not in a good position to form opinions with any foundational basis, let alone cast them out in public.
If one is able to suspend bias and emotional attachments to reading matter, and reads enough variation over a period of time, it becomes very easy to spot BS at a distance.
The critical factor is being able to dethatch from bias, also known as pre conceived ideas, which explicitly requires the individual to know themself well.. Read from as many media sources as possible, left, right and centre from as many different angles as you can get. Speak with people you have some faith in, and check for people thoughts etc from decent blogs such as this site. Over time, if open enough, and free from bias, the words really will just reek of shit when you read them, or hear them,, its called using your intuition, which humans have had dulled/removed over the past decades, where they mostly believe what they are told, and that’s enough for them!
For mine, I am calling BS on this shooting spree, massive false flag, just like Norway, with too much else going on around the second amendment for years. See fast and furious, Eric Holder if you don’t know what I am talking about. This is all about attempting to disarm the American people, using the worst type of scare tactics you could imagine, and then bestowing to the UN even more sovereignty as the empowered authority in the global structure, once the treaty I linked to previously is signed!
Whatever the solution wanted by those in control actually is, could be varied from my thoughts around this event, but I still call false flag.
We have seen the “problem”, we are getting, and will get the “reaction” over the near term, as shaped by the MSM, which will lead to the “solution” being provided. Its really only once the solution is being offered forward that the agenda become clearer, but there is more than enough history around the second amendment to see where this event fits in.
Its tragic to see yet more innocent people used to create a desired outcome, but its standard MO, so its not in any way a surprise. The new “enemy” is being clearly defined, and was called some time back, its gone from “brown faces abroad” (even though they are still getting fucked), to “white faces” at home.
Just follow along the media narrative, as that will tell you much of the underlying intentions.
At the end of the day, we all get the society, and the puppet masters which we allow to create our environment for us, that society as a whole deserves!
Doesn’t look like the west deserves too much these days!
Quite clearly analysing events without resorting to any pre-concieved ideas about what’s going on there muzza. Yep.
“Quite clearly analysing events without resorting to any pre-concieved ideas about whatâs going on there muzza. Yep.”
–Not at all, I read the early headlines, and some articles from this “shooting spree”, and drew my own conclusion, that it stinks.
Other statements above are my own conjecture on where this could tie in elsewhere, because little happens in silo. That does not mean one can’t evaluate something in silo, or not and still keep bias out. Just means you have to be prepared to factor various possibilities in as well.
“The new âenemyâ is being clearly defined, and was called some time back, its gone from âbrown faces abroadâ (even though they are still getting fucked), to âwhite facesâ at home.”
Yeah, they are clearly being oppressed. Here’s a list of them that have been disappeared by ZOG on obvioulsy trumped up charges following one of them there judicial activism rulings taking away their shootin irons. They’re probably all in FEMA camps.
http://www.csgv.org/issues-and-campaigns/guns-democracy-and-freedom/insurrection-timeline/
Or maybe there are a bunch of right wing nutters with guns using their intuition too much and going a bit loco.
50/50 call I guess.
That list is mindblowing – thanks Pb
Yeah, it’s quite a trend eh?
The most shocking one to me was this one:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/12/white-supremacist-sentenced-to-32-years-for-mlk-day-bomb/1
Didn’t recieve much coverage at all compared to islamic plots that were, well nothing really.
The bomb was discovered by pure luck
A wee google search >> july 27 obama < http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/07/19/conspiracists-adopt-nra-talking-points-on-un-arms-treaty/
SPLC, sponsored by “Hatewatch”…either way it illustrates nicely how the charade works in “media”.
Whatever this event, does or does not equal, is always going to be drowned in information of all, and every type imaginable, which of course is designed for no other reason than to misinform, and confuse.
Getting to opinion state is a matter of individual preferences, and a myriad of other factors, assuming people are putting a degree of effort into forming them!
Otherwise its likely just follow along as usual!
False flag muzza or an unwell mans actions co-opted?.
Same thing are they not jo?
sigh…one a damning indictment and the other crackpot cynicism and dishonesty, I’d certainly hope not muzza.
Anyhoo, some on topic linky stuff.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/21/1112292/-Adult-Conversation
And like I said, when the argument is made that guns protect your freedoms and liberties, ask why one or two incidents of voter fraud can be used to justify taking away the freedom and liberty to vote, yet graveyards full of dead fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are not justification to take away the liberty of gun nuts to stockpile weapons of mass murder and why Joe The Plumber gets to own a rack of bigger better guns than Paul The Policeman sent to stop him shooting his neighbours.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-state
“sighâŚone a damning indictment and the other crackpot cynicism and dishonesty, Iâd certainly hope not muzza.”
–Thats a big sigh jo too much net time eh…. For mine an “unwell man” could be used as a false flag, quite easily in fact!
While not a big gun person myself, I will say that guns are not the problem. Simplistically its as bad as the article saying the Brits are capable of “adult conversation”, I almost snorted when I read that nonsense!
Lets just make sure that the “authorities and other assorted crooked officialdom” are the only tooled up people, I reckon society will be just peachy if that is achieved. / Gee, can you tell me another story papa!
Why do the Nats project so much of their own failings on to the opposition?
Paula Bennett – “social obligations”…. on parents on DBP? What about social obligations of the government to enable jobs that pay a living wage? To provide a livable society and environment?
Bill English – “planet Labour”…. as though NAct aren’t in their own neoliberal parallel universe that denies the reality of peak everything?
Steven Joyce – on Labour’s “fairytales” – and Joyce’s own little crony capitalist “reality” that denies the reality of the large numbers of people with low incomes and little power? And who believes in RONs as the road to prosperity?
So that they can hide those failings from themselves and thus blame everyone else for things going wrong.
And the latest from Steven “Intellectual Dishonesty” Joyce is about wanting “to do a few things that make us uncomfortable” …..
….. o … O …..
Bill English 2008: “”No country can afford ongoing migration losses of this size relative to its total workforce. The problems are showing up most visibly in the professional workforce”.
Bill English 2012 : “What’s the point of standing in the airport crying about it?”
National Party campaigned on building a brighter future in 2008:
http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?articleId=28817
Bill English, 2012:
http://www.3news.co.nz/National-outline-welfare-reforms/tabid/1607/articleID/262127/Default.aspx
You know what would be awesome?
If the 49% that the government plans to sell in MRP, GEN, MERI, end up in the hands of the community trusts that own the local network companies.
Then the companies can be run in the *genuine* interest of power consumbers, not private shareholders.
Solid Energy is one of the biggest employers on the West Coast. Imagine if the holding companies of Westland and Buller councils each purchased shareholdings?
The governments plan to dilute public ownership would be well and truly sunk.
Locus, could you please explain what it is you mean by the above remark? Oh, by the whole posting? I am not a self-righteous prat, because I am not the one telling other people where they fail my high standards, and where they fall down…
Â