Daily Review 01/05/2018
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5:18 pm, May 1st, 2018 - 66 comments
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- Property Rights and the Treaty Principles Bill
Property rights – which enable decisions over tangible and intangible assets – are critical to an economy as Why Nations Fail pointed out. Not just private property rights for, as we shall see, they are more complicated than that. Neoliberals argue that private property rights lead to the maximum economic ...2 hours ago - The Hoon around the week to November 22
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Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, election loser Jair Bolsonaro tried to do a Trump, attempting a coup to overturn the election. It failed. But unlike his American friend, he hasn't been allowed to get away with it: The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest ...3 hours ago - Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...10 hours ago
- Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
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Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...11 hours ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...11 hours ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...12 hours ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...14 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...22 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...1 day ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...1 day ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...1 day ago
- Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...1 day ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...1 day ago
- ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori
Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...1 day ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink The world is emitting over 40 gigatons of CO2 per year, contributing to an accelerating warming of the planet. The world needs to cut emissions rapidly to be remotely on track to meet our Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to well-below 2C, and we ...1 day ago
- Throwback Thursday: Will “Auckland Transport” Survive?
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I wear my leather jacket like a great big hugRadiating charm - a living cloak of luckIt's the only concrete link with an absent friendIt's a symbol I can wear 'till we meet againOr it's a weight around my neck while the owner's freeBoth protector and reminder of mortalityIt's a ...1 day ago - Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy
Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...1 day ago
- The end of policing by consent
National has appointed a new police commissioner. And he explicitly rejects policing by consent: Asked if he subscribed to policing by consent, he said he did not. “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have ...2 days ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill: A Who’s Who
David Horatio Waterbed SeymourFringe politician and dweeb transformed successfully by ThinkTank money into a well-oiled soundbite robot.Currently programmed to say: Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Was previously programmed to say:I am a proud libertarian andI am a ...2 days ago - Kinleith mill closure shows need for industrial strategy
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to deliver an economic and industrial strategy for regional manufacturing, rather than just expressing sympathy for job losses, following the announced closure of Kinleith mill in Tokoroa. “The closure Kinleith mill in Tokoroa is not just devastating for ...2 days ago
- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
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This guest post by Tim Adriaansen, an advocate for accessibility and sustainable transport, originally published on LinkedIn and cross posted here with permission. People prefer cars, right? Probably not. Here’s why. Granted, most people in English-speaking countries use a car to get around. This simple reality underpins our transport ...2 days ago
- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...3 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath
The euphoria from yesterday’s hikoi may be transitory, but is no less valuable for that. It is pretty rare for the left to feel itself to be in the overwhelming majority, and speaking as the voice of the people. Lest that momentum be lost, the organisers will no doubt be ...3 days ago - Sabin 33 #3 – Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm landfills
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- We need to talk about Kevin
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family has a Drunk Uncle Kevin in there somewhere. If your Kevin is anything like the ones I know, he was getting along happily enough without having to think too much about the Treaty Principles Bill apart from bloody good job, onya guys ...3 days ago - The hikoi
Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...3 days ago
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There were urgent moves yesterday at Parliament to try and defuse the tension building up over ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill’s author, ACT leader David Seymour, told reporters that he understood the Justice Select Committee met yesterday to discuss how long it should take to consider submissions on the ...4 days ago
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4 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers
Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...4 days ago
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4 days ago - Kaamos: Accepted
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- National’s support base is wobbling
If ACT leader David Seymour intended the Treaty Principles Bill to drive a wedge into National’s support base, he may well already be succeeding. By midnight on Thursday after the Maori Party haka in Parliament, National MPs were being deluged with emails and messages from their members calling them out ...5 days ago
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I cannot stop grabbing people by the lapels, or shoulders, or similar, and raving at them about the tiny miracles in my ears.I can hear again! There could not be a more satisfied customer in all the world.In a noisy cafe I am even catching words that Karren cannot, she ...6 days ago - Unintended Consequences
Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...6 days ago - Thank you, driver!
Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...6 days ago
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
1 week ago - More lawlessness from National
On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...1 week ago
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Day One of the Treaty Principles Bill…and everyone got what they wanted, and did what they liked. Heated words were exchanged. Culturally appropriate acts of outrage were performed. David Seymour got to play the victim card. Willie Jackson got kicked out of class. A comically red-faced Mr Speaker bellowed “Order, ...1 week ago
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The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...1 week ago
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Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...1 week ago - Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights
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The State would like to remind you that they are in control. They manage your employment prospects, and can destroy the job market you and yours rely on by mass-cancelling construction projects, cutting funding, and firing a good chunk of our public servants. They wield the mechanisms that provide scrutiny ...1 week ago - The Weight of the World
As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...1 week ago - Thursday 14 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
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The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. ...1 day ago - Failed boot camp experiment must end
As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi. ...1 day ago
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The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. ...1 day ago
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The National Government is walking away from our manufacturing sector with constant reports of closures and job losses. ...1 day ago
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Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...1 day ago
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National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...1 day ago
- Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing
When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...1 day ago
- Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’
The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...1 day ago
- Release: A historic win for Samoan communities
Labour warmly welcomes the Restoring Samoan Citizenship Bill as it passes its third reading, before becoming law. ...1 day ago
- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...2 days ago
- Pasifika justice as Member’s Bill passes final reading
Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...2 days ago
- Release: Minister of Education thinks New Zealand ends at the Bombay Hills
The Minister of Education has shown complete disregard for rural communities and their school bus routes in Question Time today. ...2 days ago
- Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach
A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...2 days ago
- Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch
National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...2 days ago
- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...2 days ago
- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament
Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons
Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...4 days ago
- Release: Growing pressure to scrap Section 7AA Repeal Bill
The newly released Section 7AA Repeal Bill's select committee report is further evidence that the Government should scrap it. ...5 days ago
- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today. ...1 week ago
- Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon
As the hīkoi to Parliament continues, Labour has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in a last-ditch attempt to get him to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation
The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...1 week ago
- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent wake-up call on climate
The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Child Protection Investigation Unit established
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Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Kia ora and good morning everyone. Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now. I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy ...5 hours ago
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- District Court Judge appointed
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The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
Apologies everyone. Authors were all busy today and had no time for posts. Normal transmission will be resumed tomorrow.
We are always on the lookout for guest posts. If you feel the urge drop us a line with a post.
I will drop you a line either this week or next week about doing some posts? Was hoping to find some time during last couple of weeks between moving house, ANZAC Day at my bush block, the in-laws visiting, cleaning up the new house/ surrounds (about 10yrs worth of dry fuel) and cleaning up my bush block prior to ban of open fires before the start of the fire (dry) season.
A couple of readers here and few more readers that I know who visit here, have been poking me to get involved on some Defence related issues, and the other 3 issues that are linked in with Defence.
Sounds good.
Weka has got a Guest Post from me but it can wait.
Whoa sinkhole
First heard on RNZ but couldn’t find pic
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=12042984
Whoa herdld. Not going there.
Israel takes the world back to 2002 so it can think again about the nuclear agreement with Iran (fake WMD “evidence”, let’s regime change in Iraq – 2002).
There is no effort to fake evidence this time, just manipulate the record of history.
Iran was looking at nuclear weapons development before 2003 but has only been acquiring knowledge since then (cue no one is surprised).
However this is being presented as new information to justIfy American GOP/Trump sentiment (and timed for the embassy move to Jerusalem) to withdraw from an international agreement.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43958205
The nuclear deal halting nuclear power development by Iran was always based on preventing development towards (a suspected ambition) nuclear weapons capability – otherwse it would have been gross interference in a nations sovereignty.
The White House and Israel are attempting to justify their intended exercise of unilateralism by prev enting this is new inforamtion and we never knew/suspected any of this – when it was the whole reason for sanctions and the subsequent nuclear agreement.
Someone in Israel needs to remember the words about Petain (and later de Gaulle himself), old age is a shipwreck. The longer a fool remains in office the more likely this is to being exposed.
Re caption:
Nothing’s changed in 300 years has it. Pompous pratts.
TV male presenters when standing by their digital screens now adopt the same spreadeagled pose. Pompous pratts no.2. 😈
Sajid Wonder Woman.
I don’t think photography existed when chaps dressed like those in the bottom photo. It’s probably taken from a stage production.
Don’t Mention Macbeth – Blackadder
Mrs Marbuckle’s Fantabulous Pantaloons.
Yes it was. But that’s an exaggerated version of how they did behave. Oh I see joe90 has linked.
25 homeless families booted for tourists attending Art Deco festival
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018643007/homeless-families-evicted-from-motel-for-tourists
Tinder, huh? Might explain a few things.
If you thought the Facebook data harvesting scandal was bad, you probably don’t live in Russia.
For many Russians reading about the story, it was a case of “welcome to our world.”
Data harvesting is a booming and highly competitive business here, with a host of companies offering ways of “scraping” up details on your likes, shares and comments for commercial gain, with barely any regulatory or legislative control.
There are now companies offering advertisers—and anyone else who can pay—the ability to target almost any group imaginable.
[…]
One such firm is Moscow-based “Social Data Hub.” It proudly lists the Russian government as a client and boasts that it has a copy of the activity on every Russian social media network going back for the past seven years.
But their online hoovering also includes all the traffic generated by Russian-based users of U.S. and other international online giants such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The company also covers sites such as the Tinder dating app, and the Airbnb accommodation service. What this means in practice, for example, is that some swipes on Tinder profiles could actually have been made by bots.
Codaru.com tried out the “parsing” capabilities of one of these companies, to find out just how much they know about Russians. And it’s surprisingly cheap. For one ruble (slightly more than one U.S. cent), you get a complete copy of someone’s online profile (including their name, home region, phone number and date of birth), with a minimum order of 1000 accounts.
https://codastory.com/disinformation-crisis/information-war/why-facebook-data-harvesting-scandal-nothing-new-for-russians
A different perspective….
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/04/30/syrian-cisis-escalates/
There’s another neo-liberal, pro-segregation apologist for slavery called Paul Craig Roberts?
/
Shoot the messenger.
Ignore the message.
Your usual style.
Another messenger for you to shoot down,
Peter Hitchens.
So, neo-liberal, pro-segregation apologist[s] for slavery are okay if they tell you what you want to hear?.
Neo-liberalism is not okay and apologists for slavery are to be condemned.
In short, Ed thinks murderous thugs called Assad are good, murderous thugs not called Assad are bad, Chinese authoritarian thugs are bad, Russian authoritarian thugs are good, imperialism is bad, Russian imperialism is good, neo-liberal, pro-segregation apologist[s] for slavery are bad, neo-liberal, pro-segregation apologist[s] for slavery that Ed agrees with are good.
Am I right?
Wow! that Craig Paul Robert’s is a weirdo! Can see why Ed likes him.
Here he is casting incredulity on the victims of the Parkland massacre:
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/04/07/parkland-obituaries/
Roberts’ writes for a right-wing Russian think tank that takes it’s name from Orthodox theology, κατέχον, he who resists the Antichrist.
He fits right in with the menagerie of racists, anti-Semites, Islamaphobes, far right xtians and assorted loons.
http://katehon.com/article/conversation-race
http://katehon.com/person/paul-craig-roberts
Whatever, joe.
Sorry your hatred of Russia makes it impossible for you to discuss this subject rationally.
Yeah, my hatred for neo-liberal, pro-segregation apologist[s] for slavery, racists, anti-Semites, Islamaphobes, far right xtians and assorted loons and their patron is the problem.
/
You have commented before that you do not like Russia,
Please do not divert.
Best stick to Vice or Politico Joe they’re more your style, where you can get an endless stream of anti-trump material.
Leave Roberts for those of us who want to find out what’s really going on in the world.
Oh that’s right, you’re a big fan the of sexual predator, alleged rapist, and probable child abuser currently occupying the big house, because her emails.
btw, these links to Vice or Politico, cite?.
Yes Joes, you’re wrong…
You’ve openly explained the source of your ‘Russophobia’…so you’ve disqualified yourself…
No need to put such a bare faced false dichotomy onto Ed…
+1
And another messenger who must be wrong.
Peter Ford, the previous British ambassador of Syria.
Craig Murray?
Peter Ford?
Robert Fisk?
George Galloway?
Peter Hitchens?
Quite a long list….
What happened to Lebanon’s Christian community eddy?
Do you know the answer to that?
My perspective is different.
The argument I feel the most compelling is that the war on Syria is all about money and pipelines.
And that is why Iran is now under the gun.
https://www.rt.com/news/425497-iran-drops-dollar-war/
Not exactly.
The military capability of the USA is premised on its access to cheap debt (reserve currency status), otherwise it would be unaffordable. All empires are mammon AND fortresses – imperial coin is central.
The socialist (anathema to the capitalist corporate global market order) nation, and in particular ones with large scale commodity/oil production (enabling self-sufficiency), is a centre of resistance to an imperial order.
But Moslem identity resistance to Judeo-Christian power would be enough of itself to cause conflict and if the imperial power depends on the coin, so why sustain it rather than undermine it?
So what came first, the socialism or the Moslem identity, or the resistance to the means of their capitalist Judeo-Christian rival asserting imperial power over them?
Some interesting points.
Thank you.
“My perspective is different.”
Your “perspective” is cut and pasted from RT.
My perspective on the issue of money and/or pipelines being the cause of war in Iraq, Libya and Syria came from elsewhere.
But I am not arrogant enough to think my ideas are original.
Are you?
“There’s a recurring theme throughout these scientists’ findings in Antarctica: What we do now will determine how quickly Pine Island and Thwaites collapse. A fast transition away from fossil fuels in the next few decades could be enough to put off rapid sea-level rise for centuries. That’s a decision worth countless trillions of dollars and millions of lives.
“The range of outcomes,” Bassis says, “is really going to depend on choices that people make.”
https://grist.org/article/antarctica-doomsday-glaciers-could-flood-coastal-cities/
Thanks to cleangreen
Craig Murray is a rare beacon of light in an ever dimming world. Dissent is being shut down. So here is one of the few independent voices in an increasingly closed minded world.
Read the whole article here.
It will blow your mind.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/where-they-tell-you-not-to-look/
And on the matter of the infamous establishment shill Mr Harding.
The Real News Network’s (TRNN) Aaron Maté politely and professionally dismantles shameless Guardian reporter and author Luke Harding.
A chance to see a propagandist shown up for whom he is.
Genter’s expression when Davidson sings a waiata for the royal baby!!!
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/green-co-leader-sings-m-ori-waiata-for-royal-baby-louis-in-parliament/_jcr_content/par/video/image.dynimg.360.q75.jpg/v1525148989610/marama-davidson-PARLTV.jpg
Absolutely top of the government’s to do list….ensuring that the new royal sprog feels loved and wanted down here under southern skies.
Yes, a Māori women should never convey the joy of the arrival of another human.
/
Yes, and you’d think a Maori woman MP would put the bulk of her energies into ensuring Maori mothers here in New Zealand are not having to live with their children in cars, rather than buttsnorkling the privileged.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/04/auckland-phd-student-has-to-sleep-in-van-with-kids.html
If that’s her thing, serenading the babes of royalty in a far off land, then Ms. Davidson is welcome to do that in her own time and in her own space. In the House…she’s at work.
IMHO
Sorry kids, you’re on your own.
In a closed-door meeting with heads of Jewish organizations in New York on March 27th, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) gave harsh criticism of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), according to an Israeli foreign ministry cable sent by a diplomat from the Israeli consulate in New York, as well three sources — Israeli and American — who were briefed about the meeting.
The bottom line of the crown prince’s criticism: Palestinian leadership needs to finally take the proposals it gets from the U.S. or stop complaining.
According to my sources, the Saudi Crown Prince told the Jewish leaders:
— MBS
MBS also made two other points on the Palestinian issue during the meeting:
He made clear the Palestinian issue was not a top priority for the Saudi government or Saudi public opinion. MBS said Saudi Arabia “has much more urgent and important issues to deal with” like confronting Iran’s influence in the region.
Regardless of all his criticism of the Palestinian leadership, MBS also made clear that in order for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to normalize relations with Israel there will have to be significant progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
https://www.axios.com/saudi-crown-prince-tells-jewish-leaders-palestinians-should-take-what-they-are-offered-or-stop-complaining-1525025098-e7f0faf8-4f3f-442c-8478-6737ddb5a553.html
Been that way since 1970 when Arafat convinced the Arab League to recognize him as a separate leader from Jordan’s King Hussein, and for the Palestinians to go it alone with Jordan renouncing what used to be its territory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_State_of_Palestine#Rift_between_Jordan_and_Palestinian_leadership_(1970)
The King of Jordan wasn’t amused but had no choice.
Saudi Arabia has a whole bunch more in common with Israel than they do with Palestine, namely: Iran.
Same with Egypt and Israel. Nothing focuses the mind like a US$15 billion gas deal:
https://www.ft.com/content/724ea59c-1599-11e8-9e9c-25c814761640
The Arab League still protests about whole bunches of stuff, but it’s long since become a mere release-valve:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180402-arab-league-to-hold-emergency-meeting-on-palestine/
The West Bank was never recognised as territory of Jordan.
Jordan disagrees with you, having fought several wars on the point.
Just not the UN, in international law.
No one else recognised the WB as part of Jordan..oh wait the UK (the nation of the White Paper perfidity) and Pakistan did (probably because they wanted Kashmir).
Is this your way of recognising Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem? A nation can define its own territory after military conquest – same opine on Crimea?
Came close with Rabin, until he was shot.
Maybe the whole point of the regime change in Baghdad was to create a Sunni Shia divide internally and then export this across the region (deposing left wing socialist/Baath Party regimes to do so).
Then
1. bond Sunni regime autocrats to confronting Iran (and its support for the Damascus regime) and take the eye off Palestine as more and more WB land is occupied.
2. committ the USA to the struggle with Iran rather than a just Israeli-Palestinian peace.
A new cold war, whereby the West supports undemocratic “Sunni” regimes (during the struggle with Teheran/Damascus/Moscow) and they do not make much of an issue about Israel’s actions and US support for them.
The crown prince…. kushners buddy lololz
Joe90, check this out… all bibi needs to do next is appoint himself as defence minister… freaking scary.
“The Israeli parliament has voted in favour of granting Israel’s prime minister the power to declare war, solely with the approval of the defence minister.
The vote on Monday amended a law which previously required the whole cabinet to vote on such a move, transferring that authority to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, his defence chief.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/knesset-power-pm-declare-war-single-vote-backing-180501073134283.html
Very interesting in deed and we really don’t need another two religious crackpots to be added as there is a enough of them already within MER two start a major war without these two jokers.
I think it’s time old Jandals withdraws the NZDF out of the MER before these two Muppets get a itchy tigger finger and start throwing around a few cans of instant sunshine to brighten up the place.
Where are all the multi-megaton nuclear accidents when you need them.
A Saudi Arabian man who renounced Islam and made disparaging remarks about the prophet Muhammad has been sentenced to death.
Authorities became aware of Ahmad Al-Shamri in 2014 after he uploaded a series of videos reflecting his views on social media. He was subsequently arrested on charges of atheism and blasphemy, faced trial and was sentenced to death in February 2015.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-execute-apos-atheist-124114852.html
It one of the reasons why I have a love hate relationship with MER and this case of this poor individual is one of them. Between my travels of SEA and Sandpit, I’ll take the sandpit any day but SEA is a lot safer to visit with the other half.
Australia and the NZ should pull it troops out of the MER and let them unleash the dogs on MER with a winner take all. As we have more important things do in our own region than pop up these lunatics.
There is a few villages within the MER missing their village idiots ATM.
Great to see Cardinal Pell facing trial for historic sex crimes.
Gutsy New South Wales Commissioner of Police for going for him.
In hell Pell will be put to death by small boys with rocks.
As a liberal practicing Catholic myself, I never understood why Pope Francis made this guy his chief economic advisor.
Now, in my darker moments, I think Pope Francis hired Pell as a leader of the hard core conservative Cardinals. So Francis put him up to one of the key jobs, ostensibly buying support with them, but know that he had a sex-crime storm looming. The conservatives now get to see their key player hang at high noon.
At least, as Pope, that’s what I would have done, were i in a machievellian mood.
Either way Pope loses a major opponent.
Lapidation by small boys does sound rather apt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stoning_of_Saint_Stephen#/media/File:Rembrandt-Lapidation-Saint-%C3%89tienne-MBA-Lyon.jpg
Why do we allow foreigners to take our resources?
We are fools.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/bay-of-plenty/103504559/resource-consent-for-chinese-water-bottling-giant-begins-in-whakatane
We are fools..
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/95670283/chinese-company-seeks-consent-to-draw-580-million-litres-of-pristine-spring-water-to-bottle-and-export
Should nitrate leech into underground acquifers (say Canterbury), one hopes there is still a large reserve of such (and thus affordable) water available to supply to vulnerable regions locally.
Speak for yourself.
Excellent feature on Clarke in the Telegraph, it’s been reprinted in full on the herald. Fantastic PR for NZ, good buzz.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fatherhood/meet-new-zealands-first-bloke-man-wholl-become-stay-at-home/?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1525122889
And good for him. I was the stay-at-home dad with our two though I called myself ‘him indoors’. Great chance to get close to the children, and allowed Mrs Mac1 to follow her career, and increased the earning power, too.
PlayCentre, school committees, Saturday morning sport, school fairs, nappies, house cleaning, gardening, 10 washes of clothes a week, shopping, pets, after school dancing, sport- loved it all.
And in the afternoon, ten minutes of utter joy to watch Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot men or The Wombles et al, with the kids.
And 6000 meals, 2000 jars and bottles of fruit, jam, chutneys, sauces, and home brew, too, bread-making, though not many scones, baking.
Enjoy your time, Clarke. I did.
The author was killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul on Sunday. He wrote this a couple of years ago.
But there is no more hope. Life seems to be even more difficult than under the Taliban because of the insecurity. I don’t dare to take my children for a walk. I have five and they spend their time cooped up inside the house. Every morning as I go to the office and every evening when I return home, all I think of are cars that can be booby-trapped, or of suicide bombers coming out of a crowd. I can’t take the risk. So we don’t go out. I remember all too well my friend and colleague Sardar, who was killed with his wife, a daughter and a son while on an outing at a hotel, with only his small son somehow surviving the attack.
I have never felt life to have so little prospects and I don’t see a way out. It’s a time of anxiety.
https://correspondent.afp.com/when-hope-gone