Daily review 06/03/2019
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5:30 pm, March 6th, 2019 - 56 comments
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- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...4 hours ago - Dance Magic
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...15 hours ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...15 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...1 day ago
- As Our Power Lessens: Published
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...1 day ago - By Any Other Name.
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...2 days ago - Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...2 days ago - 2024 OIA stats
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...2 days ago - Climate Change: A perverse incentive
The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...2 days ago
- Economic Bulletin December 2024
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...2 days ago - NZCTU make submission in opposition to Treaty Principles Bill
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...3 days ago
- ZB’s Power Couple
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...3 days ago - Austerity thumps GDP most since 1991
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...3 days ago
- Weekly Roundup 20-December-2024
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...3 days ago
- The baby-boomers’ last gasp
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...3 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...3 days ago
- Join us at 5pm for 2024’s last Hoon
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...3 days ago - Christmas Gifts: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...3 days ago
- GDP Figures No Christmas Present for New Zealand
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...4 days ago
- Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...4 days ago - MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...4 days ago
- The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...4 days ago - Back on Track
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...4 days ago - Book Review: How Big Things Get Done
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner Want to know how to do something big? Ask someone who has done it before! Professor Bent Flyvbjerg has spent his career studying megaprojects. In 2023, ...4 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On Why We Can’t Survive Two More Years Of This
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...4 days ago - Dragging our way towards the finish line, the end of this year can’t come soon enough for many…
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...4 days ago - Handling Democracy.
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...4 days ago
- Open letter to the Minister of Dwindling Finances
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...4 days ago - Open Government: The joke ends
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...4 days ago
- An unusual sort of press conference
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...4 days ago - This substack has talked about this government’s seeming corruption & pro-corporate issues...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...4 days ago - NZCTU: Minister needs to listen to the evidence on engineered stone ban
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...4 days ago
- Wednesday 18 December
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...4 days ago
- Can the government change its mind on the ferries?
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...4 days ago
- Notes from Afar: Will Luxon Attend Waitangi Day? And Opposition Calls Out Nicola Willis for “C...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...5 days ago - Member’s morning
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...5 days ago
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We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...5 days ago - Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...5 days ago
- December-24 AT Board Meeting
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...5 days ago
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Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...5 days ago - It could have been worse
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...5 days ago
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The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...5 days ago - Willis’ austerity strategy just isn’t working
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...5 days ago
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- Join us for a pop-up Hoon at 5pm on HYEFU
5 days ago - ‘Ideas Worth Saving’: A Call for Papers
Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...5 days ago - Corrections is torturing prisoners again
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...5 days ago
- HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...5 days ago
- “Better economic management”
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...5 days ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...6 days ago
- Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...6 days ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...6 days ago
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In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...6 days ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...6 days ago
- Govt to double number of toll roads
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s pre-emptive strike
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...6 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery
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- More public service contempt of parliament
Back in 2023 the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties raised concerns about the inherent conflict of interest involved in public service agencies supporting parliamentary select committees. Our parliament is run on a shoestring, so depends on the public service for advice. But public service agencies work for Ministers, not ...6 days ago
- If There Is A God
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...7 days ago - A Lipstick Government
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...7 days ago - NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...7 days ago
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- Coalition forced to back down on tolling Pahiatua track
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...1 week ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...1 week ago
- Making Gravy
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...1 week ago - Nothing here but the shadows
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...1 week ago - The United Right: the FSU’s Continued Efforts to Undermine Academia
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...1 week ago
- Showing the Americans how to do it
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...1 week ago
- 2 Men, 1 Haircut
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago - Tell me a story
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
- National’s Greatest Misses 2023-4
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
- Greyhound racing industry ban marks new era for animal welfare
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...2 weeks ago
- Rangatahi voices must be centred in Government’s Relationship and Sexuality Education refresh
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt introduces archaic anti-worker legislation
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...2 weeks ago
- Winston Peters – Kinleith Mill Speech
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- He Ara Anamata: Greens launch Emissions Reduction Plan
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- Internationally-trained doctors jump at chance to boost health workforce
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...3 days ago
- New intelligence oversight appointments
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- New housing developments able to progress more quickly
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- Actions to speed up air travel delivering results
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- Ending contracted emergency housing in Rotorua
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- Vocational education and training decisions support return to regions
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- Reducing the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants
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- Ngāruawāhia section of Waikato Expressway back to 4 lanes for Christmas
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- Appointments to the ENZ board
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- Government to celebrate Waitangi Day around NZ
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- More gangs added to Gangs Act list
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- Judicial appointment announced
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- GDP data highlights importance of growth
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- Strengthening Free Speech in Universities
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- Minister reopens Mangamuka Gorge
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- Funding confirmed for second Ashburton Bridge
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- Government boosts support for avian influenza response
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- Levelling the playing field for media advertising
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- Inspector-General of Defence appointed
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- Fire and Emergency New Zealand final levy rates confirmed
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- More AML relief on the way for Kiwi businesses
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- Hawke’s Bay Expressway moving at pace
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- Government seeks partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned-land
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- Wide ranging legislation to make justice system more efficient
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- Diverse skills in community trust appointments
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- Torture redress for survivors of the Lake Alice Unit
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- A busy year in the House
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- Consultation opens on working with engineered stone
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- Greater reporting on Treaty settlement commitments
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- New appointments to the Charities Registration Board
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- Building consent processing times improve
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- Faster access to support through Innovation Fund
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- New Zealand to assist Vanuatu on earthquake response
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...5 days ago
- Government takes steps to reduce card fees for Kiwis
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- Review recommends ECE regulation shakeup
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- Offshore Renewable Energy Bill passes first reading
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- Local Government (Water Services) Bill passes first reading
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- Gene Technology Bill passes first reading
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- Vanuatu quake: Warnings as bad weather threat looms for Port Vila
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Partner kills ex partner with child still in her arms. I am reading Boys will be Boys by Clementine Ford and I recognise the cold, hard anger and hatred towards women being perpetrated in real life as well as online. The outrage poured out upon Ford for simply stating her own views is eye-opening and a huge database of what constitutes male misogyny and the invitation to rape and murder girls and women and males that refuse to conform to misogyny.
When is another male going to say to an important male in their life that women have a right to live without their permission?
Remember the cretinous garbage that constitutes Jordan Williams who was uncovered emailing the message that if women didn’t have (I’ll spare the delicate feelings) a. c .u. n. t. he would throw rocks at them.
I ask again; just what are men so fucking afraid of? Women being treated like human beings, having a say, being able to live autonomously, having an opinion that doesn’t involve asking a male.
What is this doing to our young boys and young men?
What is causing the huge number of suicides among our guys?
Join the fucking dots!
Our boys and men are being destroyed by trolling woman-haters. They’re being taught to loathe the women that raised them and they’re being engineered to slaughter their own emotions, finer feelings and humane objective self-worth.
That will never have a good outcome, and the authorities meant to support boys and men, girls and women to have a safe, productive life – they don’t seem to exist.
I love lead. 🤣
Thanks, Stuart Munro
Here’s an interesting one from National Party head of marketing at the Herald, Audrey Young.
Bridges, like his advisor Mike Hosking the other morning, pulled out the racist dog-whistle by focussing on Maori as a whole rather than the land that may or may not have exemptions from a CGT depending on the nature of the transfer.
This is classic demonising of a people and the Prime Minister was right to call out Simple Simon on it. What a grubby tactic from Hosking and the Nats. Quite disgraceful and no wonder she was so annoyed having to watch that smug prick deliver such crap from the opposition bench.
The complexities of distributing Treaty settlements require special consideration particularly when transferring land between hapū.
Even Young doesn’t try to spin what Bridges did in a positive light, preferring to go into dispassionate report mode at that point, rightly describing what the TWG report actually said rather than what the anti-Maori National Party made of it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12210180
The other diversion today was a piece by the Hosk in the “fish wrap” that National party marketing front and conveyor of low brow commentary and political bias on a daily basis.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209999
“The soft bigotry of low expectation.” apparently this is Paula Bennett at great heights of prose and “absolutely sterling…” in condemnation of the govt and unemployment……what a load of tripe.
More like “The low spark of National poodles” to me. No wonder the Hosk was impressed.
Yeah, I saw that. Hosking accuses the government of “temporarily (getting) rid of tenancy reviews”. But I would say that is better than Paula’s government’s effort where they permanently got rid of tenancies.
Also unsaid, like much of Hosking scribbles, is what happened to those 11,000 not previously eligible for the job-seeker benefit under the Nat controlled WINZ unit. Of course they were on the street and in cars and this reality went a long way toward the demise of Paula’s government.
Fair minded Kiwis have far more compassion than these two give them credit.
Have been hearing very positive feedback re how WINZ are now treating their clients, word on the street is they are being treated like human beings.
As a result it’s forming better relationships.
Funny that, how not being bullied improves relationships. Maybe that is something paula and ‘what’s his name’ is yet to learn.
Sean Plunket unhappy that another white guy is being boycotted after allegations of sexual abuse.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2019/03/sean-plunket-slams-new-zealand-radio-stations-after-michael-jackson-gets-dropped.html
Big Rape Gang Culture here in NZ and the Authorities do jack shit about it IMHO
Maaaaate! Whoar!!!!!!!!!! Hotpants or pink with that chiffon walk brutha……..Move over!
Whooooar!!!! Let me at her!
[Open bracket] sarc [Close bracket]
The less we have to see or hear or her the better.
But then maybe not – that bot(tom) will probably self-destruct 30 seconds after the bloody medication runs out, If not then there’s surely some other synthetic influence driving it or Mother Nature has a lot to explain.
Fook Her and all who travel with Her
(Awwww you bully OwT! )
Oh, btw – I’d be more charitable about a witch/warlock if (s)he/it’d succumb to a little honesty and human decency.
Paula is one specimen that is incapable of doing so – primarily because she’s overwhelmed by the search for the Main Chance.
Soimon and Her (majesterial in her own mind) are the perfect couple.
If I were Soimon’s street fighting woif, I moit be a luttle wurried (goan forwid).
There is only so much shit a public will swallow (whether they have the nouse to get up and vote or not, or whether numbed and neutered by a devoid 4th Estate).
Time for some answers Simon Bridges, after all you were the Minster of Transport that oversaw this debacle. The Waikato Expressway is falling to bits too.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111065215/kpiti-expressway-needs-25-million-worth-of-repairs-just-two-years-after-opening
Some OIAs should get to the bottom of what pressure Bridges put on NZTA to reduce costs.
Edit: Here’s the culprit. Electioneering! It was in your link.
Now future projects suffer.
As are pretty much all their RONS……shonkily made in the image of the leader, how fitting they leave this maintenance headache at taxpayers feet.
The national party in a nutshell.
https://twitter.com/TalbertSwan/status/1102929640082034688
Madness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuldE-ph3Dx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Imagine looking up and seeing that.
That, and the person behind following the same moves while keeping the main one in frame lol
‘Backwards and in heels’
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12210170
Anti vaxxers should be charged with manslaughter and attempted manslaughter
Or lock the dopey fuckers out of the interwebs.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1103089120895795200
Similar screaming headline on Natrad…but….BUT….before you find a suitable tree….
“Auckland University Immunisation Advisory Centre head Nikki Turner said said there was no need for a separate public health campaign against anti-vaxxers.
“I don’t think we should ignore the anti-vaccination lobby but I think we should put it into context.
“It is a very small percentage of the New Zealand population.
“We need to understand it and respond to it, and definitely put more resources and thinking into it, but it is a very small part of why we are not getting high immunisation coverage rates.”
(Bears repeating…IT’S A VERY SMALL PART OF WHY WE ARE NOT GETTING HIGH IMMUNISATION RATES)
Dr Turner said there were other problems with delivering immunisations, beyond what she called vaccine hesitancy, and New Zealand would be better off dealing with those.
“We need to systematically know which children are missing out and offer them services.””
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384112/hospital-bosses-want-anti-anti-vax-campaign
Do you actually believe that?
If yes…don’t comment on issues you’re clearly not up to discussing…and take a good long introspective look at yourself…
Comments such as yours are dark ages…hate speech of the most ignorant variety…
Argue it…go right ahead…
I nearly didn’t get my child vaccinated due to the autism scare put up by fuck wit anti vaxxers. Enough said
How does you not taking responsibility for educating yourself…translate into your open hatred against other parents…inciting harm against other parent and their children…
Tell the full story waghorn…not that it will excuse your ignorance…
Which is what your comments are…the height of misinformed…uninformed…uneducated…ignorance…
You want to make such statements of unmoderated violence…back it up…
Go ahead…show you’re not pig ignorant from the farm…
Were have I threatened violence.?
Yes I realise I’m an uneducated hick . But not so uneducated that scare mongering fools won out.
Do you believe the science on climate change??
If so why do you not believe the science on vaccines?
Anti vaxxers should be charged with manslaughter and attempted manslaughter
Your request is for state violence against parents…and therefore against children…
Surely you understand what your comment is demanding?
..but not so uneducated the scare mongering fools won out…
You believe this subject is about winning…that’s what you believe?
How is exercising your parental right of vaccinating…evidence that those other parents (along with a global community of scientists and medical professionals) are as uninformed as the aggressive and hateful comments indicate you are?
Climate Change – Don’t deflect or conflate subjects…we’re not discussing climate change…
What I believe, is your comment requests state violence against parents and their children…for exercising their parental right…not to vaccinate…
Your parental choice was to vaccinate…from your comments…you’ve failed to educate yourself at a fundamental level, such you could have practiced informed consent, on behalf of your children…
So it follows that through your ignorance…you’ve failed them…and so you project your fear onto other parents and their children, in a most cowardly way…
That’s what I believe…because that is what you have explicitly stated…through your comments…
The fact that you think courts and prison are state sponsored violence puts you in the fringe nutter club . I try to avoid arguing with stupid as one can never win.
What you do, is avoid getting into discussions with anyone above your level…which is that of name calling…
You owe it to your children to extend yourself…you also owe it to yourself…
Don’t ask others to do the heavy lifting for you…such as you have asked of Rosemary futher down…do your own work…if you’re truly interested…
Which I highly doubt that you are…because you’ve stated you believe in medically induced ‘herd immunity’…
Which is logical fallacy 101…
See if you can be bothered identifying, why it is a falsehood…
Go on…do some work for yourself…or is name calling …hate speech…state violence…what you’re ok with representing…
If you made a throw away comment and would like to retract it…I’m offering you that option…
Good grief 1-2 is back ..
Have you missed the last few weeks? There’s been some … errm … interesting threads. Apparently electrosmog from 5G is going to bring about the end of the world. Or something.
I don’t partake of the standard very often these days so have missed those fascinating discussions…thankfully.
The NZH article you linked to…terribly written article which I pulled apart…i know you read my response before I deleted it…
Without posting another substandard link…just post the abstract of the study…specifically highlighting start and end years of the study…
Can you do that, mullet…
Some linkys for you. Go on, you know you want to.
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-12-02-2019/#comment-1582561
starting at comment 3
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27-02-2019/#comment-1588256
starting at comment 9
While I’m here, spending time engaging with disingenuous types, Andre…
Have you moved on from Gorski, yet?
Or are you and bazza still attempting to convince others that by reading and promoting Gorski…they too can be subjected to medical hate speech…
Perhaps you convinced waghorn that Gorski isn’t a disgraced one man gutter…
That’s your level…in case you’re still imagining yourself as something higher…
Gorski..the hate speech medic!
I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to deduct 10 points for the ongoing gratuitous abuse of the ellipsis.
bwaghorn.
According to the expert quoted above… “fuck wit” ‘anti vaxxers’ are only a VERY SMALL PART of why we are not getting high immunisation rates.
Heavy sigh. How many times must it be said?
Wakefield’s research had not been released when I declined the new MMR for my oldest. It was very new…and he’d already had rubella and vaccinating for mumps was an entirely new concept. Instinct…and noting else… made me decline the MMR then, and later for his sibs. They had the polio and triple antigen etc…but the MMR jab was somehow different. You could not get a jab for just the measles…even though I was willing to pay. For various reasons all my kids have had to have their immunity to various immunisable diseases tested, and I was very interested to see they had somehow acquired almost across the board cover.
Wakefield’s autism research was always suspect…but…his theory on gut health and neuro health was interesting and really quite advanced….considering being treated with someone else’s shit is now a ‘thing’. Who would have thought of that 30 years ago??? Crackpot stuff.
I have never, ever met someone who believes their child’s autism was caused through vaccination.
I have met at least four mothers who know their child’s serious and irreparable brain damage was caused by an adverse reaction (usually very high fever, encephalitis, coma) to a routine vaccination.
They are not ‘fuck wit’ ant-vaxxers….although they all have very good reason to be suspicious and wary of further jabs.
What all of them were was pissed off.
At not being told there was a risk. For not being warned about symptoms that indicated severe illness rather than post – shot unsettledness. For being told they were over anxious neurotic mothers when they did know something was wrong and presented to ED, only to be turned away. Pissed off when supervising IC doctor actually put the cause of the child’s extreme illness down to the recent vaccination. And imagine how much more pissed off when their child’s extreme post- vaccination illness almost never makes it to a Notification of Adverse Events list.
Because if it hasn’t been counted it didn’t happen did it?
A couple of them received surprisingly high support packages from the Ministry of Health…and a couple of them, despite needing the support, got bugger all.
It is cruel and highly disrespectful to bang on about how safe all vaccines are and how criminally irresponsible it is to not vaccinate (or to vaccinate but discriminately) when there are families out here that have been seriously negatively impacted.
There is a large difference between a parent choosing not to vaccinate their child and people putting others off taking their doctor s advice those are the dangerous ones.
I was well aware of the slim adverse effect s that come with vaccinations but it’s still better to get them done ,both for the child’s sake and the greater good of heard immunity.
“I was well aware of the slim adverse effect s..”
Tracheotomies, PEG feeding, severe and uncontrollable seizures, bladder and bowel dysfunction, choking hazard, wheelchairs (if they’re lucky) hemi, para or tetraplegia …..early death.
Hardly insignificant.
What % of vaccinated children suffer those problems . Please only put up verified accounts not parents suspicions.
There you go again! These mothers were told by ED and ICU doctors that the vaccination was the most likely cause of their child’s severe illness leading to lifelong impairment. BUT, in some cases, further down the line…this was denied/disputed.
bwaghorn, this happens. I know from personal experience that despite there being witnesses and evidence and lack of evidence (which in itself was damning) those with the authority, nay the duty to investigate complaints of adverse events quite often simply don’t.
You’d have to ask yourself why.
Hi Rosemary
Your insightful and honest comments regarding people with disabilities, including your own direct family experiences, are genuinely appreciated…thank you..
Regarding this subject, and of course you can speak perfectly for yourself…as you have above…in response to one of the group I refer…
However, on the subject of vaccines, those you are engaging with here and who, in recent times have sought to stir discussion using…links to articles completely lacking in credibility, written by unqualified incompetents…referring to old studys as…’new studys’…seemingly without batting an eyelid…
Those handles are not only engaging in bad faith…but they do not care for your experiences or understanding…or even for the plethora of research archives which dispell the ‘miracle’ so many have hitched their ego to…they are disingenuous time wasters…
They makes claims of ‘science’, while failing to understand basic flaws in the prerequisite assumptions…required to be accepted…without question… to support the ‘vaccine miracle’…
These types are infact…anti-science…projecting that term shamelessly…
Which is why I’ve called out waghorn…because his original comment is an abomination…
Keep posting and giving energy to those who are sincere…and who care about the issues you raise…
Be well…
LOL old studies as new studies…you really haven’t got the foggiest idea what you’re on about.
Back to the vegan dogs.
Be well also, One Two.
“abomination” is a tad harsh…. 😉
I often feel a weird mixture of awe and contempt for those who display such absolute certitude. I have some pity for those who appear to have blindly accepted without question the official narrative….such minds!!! Like steel traps!!! So tightly closed.
It’s like many have lost the ability to read, to reason, to do their own research and to form their own opinions.
And we seem to be losing our truthsense…to steal a word from Herbert.
Thanks, Rosemary…
The truth is, it is such a devious tactic against parental emotions…playing those off against eachother…whose only real interest (mostly) is to try to make decisions they believe are best for their children…
I’m well and truly over the vaccine ‘debate’ as the desperation of the establishment is transparently obvious these days…and I’ve openly stated on this blog that in a handful of years…the miracle…will have been effectively exposed…
Nothing more for me add…it in motion…and will play itself out…
When I see outageously ignorant comments about manslaughter charges and child abuse levelled towards well intended parents…I will call it out…
Please keep sharing insights into your world…should you like to do so…
Have a good evening…
The odds of randomly encountering four women with children who have serious brain damage are low, but to meet four with a common cause of that damage is even lower – especially when one considers the apparent harm rates of the alleged source of those injuries. Where did you meet them?
McFlock. Feel free to utilise the awesome search engine on this site and go back and see how many times I comment about disability issues…especially when this involves the singularly dysfunctional government agency that is the Misery/Mystery/Miserly of Health.
Now over the past twenty years or so, and especially over the past fifteen, my partner (a pre ACC tetraplegic) and I (have housebus, can travel cheap) have made it our mission to attend as many disability type events as possible. Originally it was the biannual Consumer Forums put on by the Misery so the bureaucrats could front up the the client base and pretend they gave a shit. (The Misery quit those…way too much anger, way too many tears…and called the Consumer Consortium (all representatives of government funded ‘charities’ and NGOs) ‘consultation with the disabled’.)
Anyhoo…then there were the 5 Paying Family Carers workshops/consultations we went to in 2012(I still remember the late night run from Wellington to Hamilton to make the next day’s meeting) …then there was the KPMG thingy about disability support services funding and then there were the New Zealand Disability Strategy rewrite meetings and the odd Carer’s meeting.
Throw in a couple of Health and Disability Commission Disability conferences (we protested at one of those,with some effect I might add 🙂 and you might be getting the picture.
Now I just might come across as angry/ranty/over heavy on the sarcasm here on TS, and I really don’t give a shit….but in person, in the real world, I’m actually quite approachable. I’m going to stop short of describing myself as personable…but I try to project empathy and above all a willingness to listen. Peter sitting in his wheelchair helps. People tell us stuff. We feel honoured to hear their stories. We are not naive, and we can filter out the seriously sad and justifiably bitter. We have a pretty good understanding how MOH operates (ok, ‘operates’ is a stretch) and when it is clearly obvious that there has been a significantly higher level of funded support going into a particular client’s care than is usual this gives more than a little credence to their assertion that the damage was caused by a routine MOH funded vaccinations.
Guilt money…? Maybe. Hush money?..nah. Not that these Mothers just spit out ‘vaccine damage!!!’, they don’t. It usually a quiet thing. We ask the nature of the impairment and if it was there at birth ( acceptable questions from one disabled person to another but an AB might be pushing it to ask;-) ) The tale emerges as we listen without judgement. We listen with respect.
The fact we have spoken to hundreds of people living with disability and I can only think of four who ascribe their child being literally struck down due to vaccination is actually telling.
I recall liking some of your comments, but I don’t keep files on people 🙂
And I also have a bit of difficulty attaching specific details to people/handles here.
I just suspected a certain amount of sample bias. As you say, that you can only think of four is actually quite telling.
I recall as a kid having to take forms home from school before we were all lined up for shots in third form (yeah it was a while ago). I assume they were pretty similar to the forms I sign every year before getting the flu shot. They advise of the actual known risks, but really the stone cold truth is that the known risks are so low compared to the known risks of another measles outbreak getting out of hand that unless you tick one of the contraindication boxes, failure to vaccinate in my mind counts as negligence. Even if all four injuries of people you know met directly caused by the vaccine.
I actually wouldn’t care about anti-vax folk if they only endangered themselves – a bit pissed at the selfishness, but no big loss, like a drunk driver. But I also know a couple of cancer survivors and someone who seems to be allergic to everything under the sun, and they’re possibly put at risk, too.
But although we’re on different sides on this one, keep putting it up ’em 😉
THANK YOU Rosemary !
!!
While we’re talking about risking further anxiety, depression and low self-esteem from in our Young People Mattel comes up with a new Barbie to celebrate International Women’s Day.
I kid ye not.
To make matters worse they have produced…wait for it….drum roll please….THE FIRST EVER NEW ZEALAND BARBIE!!!!!!
Depicting our very own home grown role model for Kiwi girls…..former Black Fern and TV Sports Host Melodie Robinson.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12210214
She’s oh so appropriately chuffed and gushes….
“….seriously cool to be selected to inspire young girls with the first ever NZ Barbie – she’s Maori … and a commentator!”
I’m pretty sure (actually fervently hoping) that Melodie is unaware of the inspiration for Barbie…..a doll named Lilli…” a “sexy novelty gift for men, based on a popular comic strip” ”
Hmmm….https://sites.psu.edu/jyh5445/2013/12/08/brainwashed-by-barbie-what-a-doll/
Quirky funfact…If real women had Barbie’s traditional bodily proportions we’d be unable to hold our heads up, have room in our bellies for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine and we’d have to get around on all fours (to the delight, no doubt, of the target of the Lilli doll).
Oh dear Melodie….if only perhaps your ego could have been put aside for the greater good.
Rosemary Mc
Some things take off with a life of their own on a different trajectory than intended.
So old Barbie has mutated into something else. It will still have the skinny this and shapely that no doubt, as that is the way we are being moulded by commercial and cultural propaganda. That is slanted to feelings of always being less than excellent, not reaching your potential, resulting often into a constant stress. And I read recenty that stress itself tends to make you put oin weight through complicated interactions in the body.
So people are growing into great fat dumplings buying the idea they should really should change themselve, and the idea so discomforting that they reach for comfort food and I feel they mentally use their weight and size to give them presence in a world that finds many of us unsatisfactory no matter what we do.
But feminists found how to turn things round, adopted the word ‘bitch’ and said okay we’ll have that for our own. We’ll embrace it and take away its sting.
So they can take Barbie and choose her as their mascot if they wish.
Eleanor Roosevelt, President’s wife, was a great thinker, a moral person who spoke out about things that concerned her. She said, and it’s easy to think oh what a great line but it’s not that simple; but it is:
Wonder what Mrs Roosevelt would have made of Chomsky’s ‘Manufacturing Consent’?
The new Austin Brexit.
https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/ee68128e-a6fa-47e8-910b-d0a84e1effdd.png
Lol muchly
Science, huh.
https://twitter.com/ASDNewscom/status/1098613589902938112
“The Moon flies through Earth’s atmosphere,” says Igor Baliukin of Russia’s Space Research Institute, lead author of the paper presenting the results.
“We were not aware of it until we dusted off observations made over two decades ago by the SOHO spacecraft.”
Where our atmosphere merges into outer space, there is a cloud of hydrogen atoms called the geocorona. One of the spacecraft instruments, SWAN, used its sensitive sensors to trace the hydrogen signature and precisely detect how far the very outskirts of the geocorona are.
These observations could be done only at certain times of the year, when the Earth and its geocorona came into view for SWAN.
For planets with hydrogen in their exospheres, water vapour is often seen closer to their surface. That is the case for Earth, Mars and Venus.
“This is especially interesting when looking for planets with potential reservoirs of water beyond our Solar System,” explains Jean-Loup Bertaux, co-author and former principal investigator of SWAN.
The first telescope on the Moon, placed by Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972, captured an evocative image of the geocorona surrounding Earth and glowing brightly in ultraviolet light.
“At that time, the astronauts on the lunar surface did not know that they were actually embedded in the outskirts of the geocorona,” says Jean-Loup.
http://www.asdnews.com/news/aerospace/2019/02/20/earths-atmosphere-stretches-out-moon-beyond
Oh good. I’ll let the Tasman District Council know and they can stop the Waimea Dam in Lee Valley so that it can remain a beautiful swimmable place of clean river water and stressless rehabilitation instead of being drowned underneath tonnes of water.
Reports prepared say that there was just 10 days or weeks in the year when extra water was needed and alternatives to the dam for this purpose were drawn up but a dam is so big and a statement of man’s curious wish to erect monuments that purport to be good for all, but some are more equal than others.
So good news from space. That is very helpful though the advice cost more than the cost of the dam which was I think $20 million and now advanced to $80 million and projects always exceed their budgets don’t they. But what is money, merely blood, sweat and tears presented in a civilised manner when called on by the managers of the project. Perhaps one’s first-born too, who will probably be paying for this for ever as they say that the economics don’t add up to it on a cost/benefit basis.
Hmm- Herald goes into attack mode on popular PM, after she shockingly suggests their opinionaters don’t reflect a wide array of views.
We remember co-ordinated attacks on Labour leaders. Apologies years later mean little, if it continues. Democracy under attack etc.
They don’t need the 45% behind their paywall perhaps? Or wrote them off long ago?