Funny how models based on "the science" still seem to be considerably more accurate than models based on "nothing is really changing outside of norms over the history of humanity" or "sunspots".
"Reality has always been overflowing with entities whose essences are baptized in inquiry. We are at a crossroads of understanding and bondage. Who are we? Where on the great journey will we be aligned?"
If current models of the effects of increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gases on atmospheric and ocean temperatures, sea level, et al. are not credible, would you care to hazard a guess as to whether these models are under- or over-estimating the effects/risks?
Guess we'll know soon enough.
"Since all models are wrong the scientist must be alert to what is importantly wrong. It is inappropriate to be concerned about mice when there are tigers abroad."
yep – we all saw how wrong this was and clayton tears are not needed or wanted.
The head of Oranga Tamariki says she has deep regret and is truly sorry about how the Ministry tried to uplift a newborn baby in Hastings, after a review found there were mistakes into how the case was handled.
This follows a release of its practice review into the way staff tried to take the six-day-old baby from his mother at Hawke's Bay Hospital in May.
but
Oranga Tamariki stood by its decision to get involved as it had safety concerns but how it went about it was wrong, Moss said.
At approximately 3pm today Senator Rand Paul's office held a meeting with Gareth Peirce, a celebrated human rights advocate and British lawyer who currently is representing Julian Assange on matters concerning his extradition to the US.
As a solicitor representing a client facing extradition on political charges under the draconian Espionage Act for exposing US war crimes and abuses, Gareth is duty-bound to leave no stone unturned in advocating for her client —but this meeting landed at deeply troubling time.
This week Rand Paul has repeatedly pulled threads at the already threadbare fabric of democratic process by calling on members of the media and others to unmask the identity of the alleged whistleblower.
Whistleblower protection, like source protection, is a foundational tenet in journalistic ethics, and (unless something recently changed) remains paramount within Wikileaks.
Today’s meeting between Julian Assange’s attorney and Rand Paul’s staff was an affront to every core belief once held sacred by Wikileaks supporters. It never should have happened.
To add insult to injury today Rand Paul blocked a resolution reaffirming the Senate's support for whistleblower protections. Protecting the safety of sources is not “fake outrage,” it’s a baseline to due process in these proceedings.
In addition to showing contempt for whistleblowers & sources, Rand Paul has also shown contempt for journalists from the mainstream & alternative media alike, including fighting to revoke the press credentials of @AbbyMartin who once asked him hard questions about US drone policy
mentions The already horrid optics of this meeting are compounded when it is revealed the individual who purportedly brokered the meeting between Julian Assange's lawyer and Rand Paul's office is none other than Roger Stone protege and Alt-Light Palme d'Or, Cassandra Fairbanks.
mentions This meeting did not speak truth to power …it pulled at the pant legs of it.
mentions This meeting did not lift up the ideals that at one time in 2010 made Wikileaks great …it undermined those ideals in a most brutal way.
mentions This meeting couldn't possibly help Julian Assange in his fight against charges for publishing information about US war crimes …instead it conflates them with a partisan spat that is threatening the safety of another whistleblower seeking to hold those in power to account.
I've yet to see any media call out the Repug push to expose the whistleblower for what it really can only be: a blatant attempt to intimidate other potential whistleblowers and scare them away from whistleblowing.
Rand Paul is definitely playing a different game to most of the rest of the Repugs, though I'm not ready to guess at what his end-game might be. (No, I don't think he's a Pooteepuppet, though there is likely some convergence of interests)
But people are complicated, even utter assholes can do worthwhile things now and then. Rand Paul's sticking up for Snowden seems to fall into that category, even though it may be in service of some as-yet obscure asshole goal.
Earlier in the year he was quietly boosting foreign oligarchs with his opposition to sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project. At around the same time he was holding up funding for a 9/11 victims
An opportunist weasel looking to line his own pockets, I reckon.
Rand Paul is one of the few repug politicians I suspect might actually have some pretty strong political principles that he generally sticks to, rather than being primarily interested in feathering his own nest and clawing onto is sinecure.
Touble is that those principles are libertarian, so whatever good he might advocate he approaches fromn the opposite direction. I.e. protecting Snowden is consistent with trying to make government infintesimally small, so it's the same impulse that makes him want to destroy all government healthcare systems (not sure about his ideas on VA – he'd probably want it government funded but privatised).
Whereas even a light socialist would say Snowden deserves a pass because he exposed mass surveillance that preserves nationalistic capitalist hegemony, and that everyone is entitled to healthcare, food, and housing even if capitalism doesn't provide it to them.
maui, your previous evasions notwithstanding, I'm still interested in whether you think it's OK for the president to withhold Congress approved and taxpayer funded aid to try to extort a foreign country into smearing a political opponent of the president?
Go on and pretend it's just a hypothetical if it makes it easier for you to answer. It's a very simple question that only needs a “yes it’s OK” or “no it’s not OK” answer.
Do you know that Trumps IQ is that of Einstein's? He is by far not dumb. Do you know hes a Master Chess player and he taught Barron, Top of the game in the world. Hes playing 4D Chess with people and driving them crazy. Its hilarious. Just so you know, Dumb he is not.
Aw c'mon, give him credit, he's the absolute undisputed master of seagull chess. Y'know, where you flap in squawking loudly, shit all over the board, knock all the pieces over, strut around like you've won, and flap out again still squawking loudly.
I doubt he even knows how each chess piece moves and even if by a miracle he does he'd cheat his arse off like he does in every other aspect of his life from golf to numbers at his parade. He would be good at moving the pieces on one of those magnetic chess sets that are so so small you can hardly hold them, for obvious reasons.
"Despite supporting the bill National have set out several changes to the law that they would make in their first 100 days if elected, including removing the controversial methane target and asking an independent commission to set it."
After the White House cut off military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump’s top officials scrambled to get it restored but were unable to organise a meeting with the president, in part because his staff were too busy pursuing his interest in buying Greenland, according to newly released congressional testimony.
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...
Seymour says there will be no other exemptions granted to schools wanting to opt out of the Compass contract. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest:David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract ...
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ...
Edit: The original story said “Palette Cleanser” in both the story, and the headline. I am never, ever going to live this down. Chain me up, throw me into the pit.Hi,With the world burning — literally and figuratively — I felt like Webworm needed a little palate cleanser at the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler(Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy:Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, Newsroom-$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets.He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...
When ASPI’s Cyclone Tracy: 50 Years On was published last year, it wasn’t just a historical reflection; it was a warning. Just months later, we are already watching history repeat itself. We need to bake ...
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was were right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country ...
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...
Robert Kaplan’s book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis paints a portrait of civilisation in flux. Drawing insights from history, literature and art, he examines the effect of modern technology, globalisation and urbanisation on ...
Sexuality - Strong and warm and wild and freeSexuality - Your laws do not apply to meSexuality - Don't threaten me with miserySexuality - I demand equalitySong: Billy Bragg.First, thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s survey. Some questions worked better than others, but I found them interesting, ...
Hi,I just got back from a week in Japan thanks to the power of cheap flights and years of accumulated credit card points.The last time I was in Japan the government held a press conference saying they might take legal action against me and Netflix, so there was a little ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; andHealth Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Lisa ...
Hi,I just got back from a short trip to Japan, mostly spending time in Tokyo.I haven’t been there since we shot Dark Tourist back in 2017 — and that landed us in a bit of hot water with the Japanese government.I am glad to report I was not thrown into ...
I’ve been on Substack for almost 8 months now.It’s been good in terms of the many great individuals that populate its space. So much variety and intelligence and humour and depth.I joined because someone suggested I should ‘start a Substack,’ whatever that meant.So I did.Turning on payments seemed like the ...
Open access notables Would Adding the Anthropocene to the Geologic Time Scale Matter?, McCarthy et al., AGU Advances:The extraordinary fossil fuel-driven outburst of consumption and production since the mid-twentieth century has fundamentally altered the way the Earth System works. Although humans have impacted their environment for millennia, justification for ...
Australia should buy equipment to cheaply and temporarily convert military transport aircraft into waterbombers. On current planning, the Australian Defence Force will have a total of 34 Chinook helicopters and Hercules airlifters. They should be ...
Indonesia’s government has slashed its counterterrorism (CT) budgets, despite the persistent and evolving threat of violent extremism. Australia can support regional CT efforts by filling this funding void. Reducing funding to the National Counterterrorism Agency ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) The bill does exactly what it says on the label, and would effectively end the rapacious water-bottling industry ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International ...
Nicola Willis has proposed new procurement rules that unions say will lead to pay cuts for already low-paid workers in cleaning, catering and security services that are contracted by government. The Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill passed its third reading with support from all the opposition parties and NZ ...
Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for ...
Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new ...
Last year in October I wrote “Where’s The Opposition?”. I was exasperated at the relative quiet of the Green Party, Labour and Te Pati Māori (TPM), as the National led Coalition ticked off a full bingo card of the Atlas Network playbook.1To be fair, TPM helped to energise one of ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkGood data visualizations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable. Back in 2016 Ed Hawkins published a “climate spiral” graph that ended up being pretty iconic – it was shown at the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year – and ...
An agreement to end the war in Ukraine could transform Russia’s relations with North Korea. Moscow is unlikely to reduce its cooperation with Pyongyang to pre-2022 levels, but it may become more selective about areas ...
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer The key word in the sentence above is financing. It is important ...
In a month’s time, the Right Honourable Winston Peters will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Good for him. On the evidence though, his current war on “wokeness” looks like an old man’s cranky complaint that the ancient virtues of grit and know-how are sadly lacking in the youth of today. ...
As noted, early March has been about moving house, and I have had little chance to partake in all things internet. But now that everything is more or less sorted, I can finally give a belated report on my visit to the annual Regent Booksale (28th February and 1st March). ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s plan to disestablish Resource Teachers of Māori (RTM) roles, a move that takes another swing at kaupapa Māori education. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
After months of mana whenua protecting their wāhi tapu, the Green Party welcomes the pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and calls for the Rotorua Lakes Council to work constructively with Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera on the pathway forward. ...
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. This week we've made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand.Winston representing New ZealandWinston Peters is overseas this week, with stops across the Middle East and North Asia. Winston's stops include Saudi Arabia, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Duncan, Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images We’re roughly half way through this parliamentary term, and it looks as though the 2026 election could deliver “Christopher vs Chris: the sequel”. Neither ...
After months of bad headlines, Chris Luxon’s trip to India seems to be reaping dividends – and not just economically, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. PM puts wins on the board Christopher Luxon is having a ...
New Zealand has joined military exercises in the Californian desert testing the world's most lethal drones, even as the Pentagon moves to fully embrace AI. ...
We call on the New Zealand government to immediately condemn these attacks and implement sanctions against Israel, in accordance with international law. ...
From coup conjecture at home to a breakthrough abroad. It wasn’t just the one week, not really. Back in February a series of unfortunate events – many of his own making – befell Christopher Luxon. After a burst of growthy-changey music at the outset of the year, the weeks since ...
In a long overdue move, Act will become New Zealand’s first modern rightwing party to run candidates in council elections. David Seymour announced on Tuesday that the Act Party will stand council candidates in the October local body election. The party has opened expressions of interest in all council districts ...
Analysis: Experts say NZ will need to carefully navigate sensitive issues with India, with both countries vulnerable to criticism on human rights and indigenous rights – but that doesn’t mean Luxon should stay silent The post How to talk human rights with India and not trigger a diplomatic incident appeared ...
There were two knock-out sights when I interviewed Jacqueline Fahey, 95, in the dining room of her Grey Lynn home, a wooden box darkened and surrounded by tropical jungle – the vast trunk of a Phoenix palm that dominated the picture window, and the sight of Fahey herself, a beautifully ...
When journalist Paddy Gower attempted to trademark his brand and news entity “This is the F***ing News” a year ago, his application stalled at the Intellectual Property of New Zealand. (The asterisks are ours – Gower’s application used the full word.)The reason? It would “likely offend a significant section of ...
Opinion: I was too young to remember, but when my father heard I was researching public opinions on gene technologies, he recalled a television interview that became known as ‘Corngate’. John Campbell put the then-Prime Minister Helen Clark on the spot about the suspected release of genetically modified corn seed, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton, when he gets on his favoured ground of security, too often goes for the quick hit, and frequently over-reaches. His suggestion of running a possible referendum to facilitate the removal of bad ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marika Sosnowski, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne When a ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel finally came into effect on January 19, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, that ceasefire agreement, and its associated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marika Sosnowski, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne When a ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel finally came into effect on January 19, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, that ceasefire agreement, and its associated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marika Sosnowski, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne When a ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel finally came into effect on January 19, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, that ceasefire agreement, and its associated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week’s budget will have cost-of-living assistance that will be meaningful and substantial but “responsible”, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said. In a Tuesday speech framing the budget Chalmers said, “it will be a responsible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Greens have heaped a lot of pressure on the government during this term, from issues of the environment, housing, and Medicare, to the war in the Middle East. With the polls close to a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Meagher, Professor Emerita, School of Society, Communication and Culture, Macquarie University On Monday, an ABC’s Four Corners investigation reported shocking cases of abuse and neglect in Australian childcare centres. This included examples of children being sexually abused, restrained for hours in ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Papua New Guinea being declared a Christian nation may offer the impression that the country will improve, but it is only “an illusion”, according to a Catholic priest in the country. Last week, the PNG Parliament amended the nation’s constitution, introducing a declaration in ...
Asia Pacific Report A national Palestinian advocacy group has called on the Aotearoa New Zealand government to immediately condemn Israel for its resumption today of “genocidal attacks” on the almost 2 million Palestinians trapped in the besieged Gaza enclave. Media reports said that more than 230 people had been killed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cohen, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney The National Rugby League has recently made headlines for trying to crack the American sporting landscape by hosting matches in Las Vegas. But the NRL’s great rival, the Australian Football League (AFL), has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John L. Hopkins, Associate Professor of Management, Swinburne University of Technology The reality of shorter working hours could be one step closer for many Australians, pending the outcome of the federal election. The Greens, who could control crucial cross bench votes in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University areeya_ann/Shutterstock From May 1, the oral contraceptive Slinda (drospirerone) will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This means the price will drop for the more than 100,000 Australian women who ...
Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator Rhys Hurley said: “Wellington commuters should be fur-ious that KiwiRail is prioritising feel-good pet projects while services go to the dogs.” ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. As most of us appreciate, there is a whole geopolitical world that overlays the formal political world of about 200 ‘nation states’ (aka ‘polities’). Geopolitical ...
Congratulations to all the people who have worked so hard for so long to get the Zero Carbon Act across the line.
Standing ovation!
And yet…
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/11/duncan-garner-james-shaw-butt-heads-over-climate-change-emergency-declaration.html
You gotta watch the stupid to believe it.
I'm referring to D Garner.
Pardon me if this is already up, but sea level rise is likely more imminent than previously believed.
Did Al Gore revise his prediction?
Who knows – never followed him.
Computer modelling revisions.
Likely.
Perhaps you should listen to the link – it's a sampling, not a modelling error.
It is computer modeled. All of it.
I'd read the nature article which serves only to illustrate, graphically how the science has been and continues to be inaccurate.
That is. Not credible.
Funny how models based on "the science" still seem to be considerably more accurate than models based on "nothing is really changing outside of norms over the history of humanity" or "sunspots".
Comparison is: The Science versus The Science.
The Science has been wildly inaccurate. Therefore is not credible.
Also not credible. Dragging in that funny irrelevance of a comparison.
"Reality has always been overflowing with entities whose essences are baptized in inquiry. We are at a crossroads of understanding and bondage. Who are we? Where on the great journey will we be aligned?"
If current models of the effects of increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gases on atmospheric and ocean temperatures, sea level, et al. are not credible, would you care to hazard a guess as to whether these models are under- or over-estimating the effects/risks?
Guess we'll know soon enough.
yep – we all saw how wrong this was and clayton tears are not needed or wanted.
but
Yeah that shows the sincerity of the apology – luckily we have more inquiries to get the truth out.
I'd call the changes made as a result of this a win. Gotta take what you can get unfortunately.
“The “but” is where the shit comes out”, – Richard Bandler
Pretty weak attitude imo
Shit gets weirder and weirder.
https://twitter.com/sparrowmedia/status/1192274726267305990
At approximately 3pm today Senator Rand Paul's office held a meeting with Gareth Peirce, a celebrated human rights advocate and British lawyer who currently is representing Julian Assange on matters concerning his extradition to the US.
As a solicitor representing a client facing extradition on political charges under the draconian Espionage Act for exposing US war crimes and abuses, Gareth is duty-bound to leave no stone unturned in advocating for her client —but this meeting landed at deeply troubling time.
This week Rand Paul has repeatedly pulled threads at the already threadbare fabric of democratic process by calling on members of the media and others to unmask the identity of the alleged whistleblower.
Whistleblower protection, like source protection, is a foundational tenet in journalistic ethics, and (unless something recently changed) remains paramount within Wikileaks.
Today’s meeting between Julian Assange’s attorney and Rand Paul’s staff was an affront to every core belief once held sacred by Wikileaks supporters. It never should have happened.
To add insult to injury today Rand Paul blocked a resolution reaffirming the Senate's support for whistleblower protections. Protecting the safety of sources is not “fake outrage,” it’s a baseline to due process in these proceedings.
In addition to showing contempt for whistleblowers & sources, Rand Paul has also shown contempt for journalists from the mainstream & alternative media alike, including fighting to revoke the press credentials of @AbbyMartin who once asked him hard questions about US drone policy
mentions The already horrid optics of this meeting are compounded when it is revealed the individual who purportedly brokered the meeting between Julian Assange's lawyer and Rand Paul's office is none other than Roger Stone protege and Alt-Light Palme d'Or, Cassandra Fairbanks.
mentions This meeting did not speak truth to power …it pulled at the pant legs of it.
mentions This meeting did not lift up the ideals that at one time in 2010 made Wikileaks great …it undermined those ideals in a most brutal way.
mentions This meeting couldn't possibly help Julian Assange in his fight against charges for publishing information about US war crimes …instead it conflates them with a partisan spat that is threatening the safety of another whistleblower seeking to hold those in power to account.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1192160499670106112.html
I've yet to see any media call out the Repug push to expose the whistleblower for what it really can only be: a blatant attempt to intimidate other potential whistleblowers and scare them away from whistleblowing.
Or something else..
https://twitter.com/MattLaslo/status/1192172187253391360
Rand Paul is definitely playing a different game to most of the rest of the Repugs, though I'm not ready to guess at what his end-game might be. (No, I don't think he's a Pooteepuppet, though there is likely some convergence of interests)
But people are complicated, even utter assholes can do worthwhile things now and then. Rand Paul's sticking up for Snowden seems to fall into that category, even though it may be in service of some as-yet obscure asshole goal.
Earlier in the year he was quietly boosting foreign oligarchs with his opposition to sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project. At around the same time he was holding up funding for a 9/11 victims
An opportunist weasel looking to line his own pockets, I reckon.
Rand Paul is one of the few repug politicians I suspect might actually have some pretty strong political principles that he generally sticks to, rather than being primarily interested in feathering his own nest and clawing onto is sinecure.
Touble is that those principles are libertarian, so whatever good he might advocate he approaches fromn the opposite direction. I.e. protecting Snowden is consistent with trying to make government infintesimally small, so it's the same impulse that makes him want to destroy all government healthcare systems (not sure about his ideas on VA – he'd probably want it government funded but privatised).
Whereas even a light socialist would say Snowden deserves a pass because he exposed mass surveillance that preserves nationalistic capitalist hegemony, and that everyone is entitled to healthcare, food, and housing even if capitalism doesn't provide it to them.
Yeah, but his defenses of fake-tan fuhrer make it look like he doesn't understand that libertarian is not the same thing as libertine.
fair call
Leaking a phone call between world leaders so the Dems have an excuse for impeachment is not whistleblowing.
maui, your previous evasions notwithstanding, I'm still interested in whether you think it's OK for the president to withhold Congress approved and taxpayer funded aid to try to extort a foreign country into smearing a political opponent of the president?
Go on and pretend it's just a hypothetical if it makes it easier for you to answer. It's a very simple question that only needs a “yes it’s OK” or “no it’s not OK” answer.
Nope, not satire.
http://archive.li/3KBar#selection-326.1-411.20
Aw c'mon, give him credit, he's the absolute undisputed master of seagull chess. Y'know, where you flap in squawking loudly, shit all over the board, knock all the pieces over, strut around like you've won, and flap out again still squawking loudly.
I doubt he even knows how each chess piece moves and even if by a miracle he does he'd cheat his arse off like he does in every other aspect of his life from golf to numbers at his parade. He would be good at moving the pieces on one of those magnetic chess sets that are so so small you can hardly hold them, for obvious reasons.
"Despite supporting the bill National have set out several changes to the law that they would make in their first 100 days if elected, including removing the controversial methane target and asking an independent commission to set it."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117244331/national-will-support-climate-change-zero-carbon-bill
It would appear that Russel Norman was right
What did Norman say? That getting National on board wasn't worth it?
Pretty much….will see if I can find the quote
cheers, I'd like to read some good analysis of this position.
Magic undie drawers are a thing.
https://twitter.com/ThePoke/status/1191027505727193088
https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2019/04/09/writer-shared-invisible-work-friend-husband-never-noticed-fair-say-struck-chord/
The rabid hole goes deep