Daily review 08/12/2023

23 comments on “Daily review 08/12/2023 ”

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1. adam 1

   8 December 2023 at 5:54 pm

   God Bless Franky Boyle.

   Not for the weak of disposition.
2. Anne 2

   8 December 2023 at 6:23 pm

   I agree with Ginny Anderson:

   “…given previous comments and the nature of Wednesday’s letter, Andersen, Labour’s police spokesperson, said Mitchell was risking infringing on operational independence.

   “He has done a complete 180 from hinting that he would get rid of the commissioner, and now he's come to say they will work together,” she said.

   She said that independence was vital, for officers’ safety and to police without fear or favour.

   “He is getting dangerously close to telling the commissioner how to do his job.”

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/133411985/the-police-commissioner-receives-expectations-but-how-much-can-the-minister-say
3. Dennis Frank 3

   8 December 2023 at 6:30 pm

   Professor Elizabeth Rata is a sociologist of education in the School of Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland.

   A common caricature from the 1970s portrays the British colonial descendant as spiritually impoverished and trapped in a desolate culture. Those who bought into this caricature welcomed seduction into the romanticised tribe – and the revisionist history required to support the dream. But in the caricature of the selfless collective opposed to the selfish individual we lose sight of one of humanity’s most profound advances. The transfer of authority from the kin group to the individual is what has enabled the modern world. https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2023/12/08/elizabeth-rata-in-defence-of-the-liberal-university-and-against-indigenisation/

   Group narcissism is influential in the world: Israelis seem to believe that Old Testament mythology (`the promised land') is a valid basis for discriminating against subsequent inhabitants of a different religion. Group fetishing is often problematic in consequence.

   Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, involves incorporating the post-1975 principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, inserting the traditional beliefs and practices of matauranga Māori into all areas of university life, and including Māori nomenclature and observances in university operations.

   It is my hope that the Coalition Government’s freedom of speech requirement for tax-funded tertiary institutions will embolden academics who, like myself are opposed to the indigenisation agenda, to speak publicly. I also call on University Councils to either justify or remove their support for this seemingly unstoppable ideology and its determined commissars.

   Like grabbing a bunch of water, I suspect. Commissars will claim they actually aren't. Evidence of formal decisions made will be deleted so they can claim any indigenous bias that has crept in was due to magical effects, not administrators. They may even sing in unison the old Helen Shapiro hit Not Responsible.
   • joe90 3.1

     8 December 2023 at 7:06 pm

     Rata has spent the past twenty years airing her anti-Māori claptrap.

     A new government and she has another crack.

     *yawn*

     /
     • Dennis Frank 3.1.1

       8 December 2023 at 9:06 pm

       Looks like an interesting cultural divide!

       Neotribal capitalism is about elite emergence and the ways in which traditionalist ideology and retribalist politics are used, with New Zealand as the example, to privatise public resources and acquire political power.

       https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/e-rata

       A critic's view: http://mauistreet.blogspot.com/2013/01/fisking-elizabeth-rata.html

       Maori society was grouped in three units; whanau, hapu and iwi. The hapu was the main political body led by a central rangatira and several lesser rangatira. Rangatira governed without force and relied on consensus politics to ensure compliance with tikanga. The consensus model was, arguably, as democratic as anything in industrial Europe. Tikanga developed as a result of centuries of practice and was informed by core principles (comparisons can be made with the common law). Tikanga regulated Maori political, legal, social and spiritual behaviour.

       A nexus of nuances. Easy to agree that her thesis simplifying it into the single word tribalism is flawed – but I haven't seen her rationalisation for doing so. I'm impressed by that triad (whanau/hapu/iwi), but I guess the pakeha also use a social identity triad (citizen/ethnicity/nationality). Mine is freethinker/centrist/alt-Aotearoan.
4. bwaghorn 4

   8 December 2023 at 6:34 pm

   https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/301023149/newsable-new-zealand-has-very-active-lobbying-scene-academic-says

   A very polite take on how lobbying infiltrates nz politics, I say they're vermin that should be stomped out!
5. Dennis Frank 5

   8 December 2023 at 6:45 pm

   Associate Professor Carrie Leonetti is from the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland. She's blowing the whistle on how gaming the justice system for money is creating the appearance of organised corruption. Naturally, neither state nor legal industry wants the truth to get out, so she cannot call a spade a spade as observers can!

   The Care of Children Act authorises the Family Court to contract with private consultant psychologists and psychiatrists to write custody evaluations, private lawyers to serve as children’s counsel, and private therapists to provide court-funded counselling for parents and children subject to parenting orders.

   This may seem like a good use of taxpayer dollars, providing courts with neutral, outside assistance to help families in conflict and make court orders more workable. The problem is many of these contractors aren’t neutral. They are for-profit providers with strongly held ideologies and agendas, who derive a financial benefit from their contractual relationships with the court, and this can conflict with the interests of the families they are hired to help.

   When courts pay private contractors by the hour for their consultant services, they create an unintentional incentive for them to complicate and prolong proceedings. Because they are not salaried Ministry of Justice employees, it is in these private contractors’ financial interest to write more and longer reports, make more court appearances, and turn simple six-month proceedings into 10-year gauntlets. https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/12/08/the-troubled-teen-industry-and-conflicts-of-interest-in-family-court/

   I recently completed a study of the Family Court’s use of “social science literature” in its decision-making. One of several alarming findings was that Family Court personnel repeatedly cited three specific authors, out of probably tens of thousands of legitimate researchers who publish research relevant to court decision-making. None of these three favoured authors were social scientists.

   So a thinly-disguised scam, run by Nat/Lab govts. Sickening. She's a brave woman, exposing a system rotten to the core.
6. Anne 6

   8 December 2023 at 6:47 pm

   Another leak:

   Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the new Government was taking a similar approach to the last Government when it took office in 2017.

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/government-rocked-by-second-leak-in-five-days-ministers-suspend-analysis-of-repeal-proposals/I4UDII5ZFJCE7IDVTYC63UYEIE/

   I don't recall the Labour led government repealing legislative practices behind closed doors. Yes, they altered previous National edicts etc. or removed them altogether but they did so openly and in accordance with normal legislative practice.

   Lying again or misrepresenting the truth?
   • roblogic 6.1

     8 December 2023 at 9:23 pm

     Trying to cover up the scene of the crime, IMO

     Govt has been rocked by the leaking of another confidential paper.

     The Treasury paper said Govt has quietly suspended Regulatory Impact Analyses for some proposals in its 100-day plan, meaning they will not go through proper process before becoming law.

     "This means that projects, including repeal of Fair Pay Agreements, or legislation underpinning the Govt’s Smokefree legislation (will)
     will face almost no scrutiny, given the new Govt intends to repeal some things, like FPAs, under urgency."

     "RIS requirements are staying for “new proposals” in the 100-day plan, however they are having their formal quality assurance requirement scrapped…"

     🙄🤔

     https://x.com/marsbutler/status/1732994438237208700?s=46&t=YQYWab08lrynsGdyx3LLKg

     Is Brownlee behind this? He likes to suspend democracy and bulldoze through other people’s life work leaving a giant mess
   • Peter 6.2

     8 December 2023 at 9:26 pm

     Oh, they'll be saying, that it was 'Six months in a Leaky Boat!' Haven't even made it to six days! And the beauty of the triumvirate ringing out "AOTEAROA" …
7. Grey Area 7

   8 December 2023 at 7:23 pm

   Shane Jones is the most bicultural of leaders. He moves effortlessly between Māori and European cultures and language. He is successful in both worlds.

   https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/350126798/governments-way-forward-relations-maori-lies-rediscovering-biculturalism?utm_source=stuff_website&utm_medium=stuff_referral&utm_campaign=mh_stuff&utm_id=mh_stuff

   Successful at getting his snout into the nearest public trough maybe.

   I know it's Josie Pagani, but spare me. Shane Jones is an opportunist, self-serving blowhard.
   • Robert Guyton 7.1

     8 December 2023 at 8:05 pm

     Jones orates well, but has a derelict appearance, especially about the eyes.
     • Kat 7.1.1

       8 December 2023 at 8:24 pm

       Blowhard……that's Shane's modus operandi……and too much blowing can affect the eyes………
   • gsays 7.2

     8 December 2023 at 8:33 pm

     They (Jones and Winnie), won't have to buy a beer in Northland if the $1.2B regional lolly scramble infrastructure fund is spent before this regime implodes.
   • Dennis Frank 7.3

     8 December 2023 at 9:12 pm

     He has, however, raised pontification to heights of performance unseen in Aotearoa since Holyoake surfed the airwaves. Combining such artistry with an alarming tendency for the eyes to move in different directions is quite a captivating blend…
     • Kat 7.3.1

       8 December 2023 at 9:48 pm

       "Combining such artistry with an alarming tendency for the eyes to move in different directions is quite a captivating blend…"

       Nothing to do of course with Electric Puha, the finest Northland Blend, and the sacred spirits of Captain Morgan, Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker………
       • bwaghorn 7.3.1.1

         8 December 2023 at 10:42 pm

         It's not weed giving him that spaced look , it's him listening to the echos of his own words inside his own skull.
         • Kat 7.3.1.1.1

           8 December 2023 at 11:12 pm

           Peters and Jones…..the big duo from up north….
           • bwaghorn 7.3.1.1.1.1

             9 December 2023 at 6:06 am

             Perfect
           • Peter 7.3.1.1.1.2

             10 December 2023 at 1:41 pm

             Was a time in Northland when the two words came together as 'Peter Jones' and that was some magic for Northlanders.
8. SPC 8

   9 December 2023 at 5:43 am

   Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that a “gap” remains between Israel’s stated intent of protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip and what has unfolded over the past week as fighting has resumed.

   At a news conference alongside Britain’s foreign minister, former prime minister David Cameron, Blinken was asked whether the Israelis have “disregarded” what he requested last week when he announced that they had agreed to the Biden administration’s “imperative” to mitigate civilian casualties after restarting the offensive in Gaza. In response, Blinken listed what the administration considers several positive developments.

   For instance, he said the Israelis now are evacuating neighborhoods instead of entire cities. He also highlighted Israel’s creation of “deconfliction areas” where people can “be safe” from surrounding violence and said its military operation is being conducted in a “more narrowly focused area.”

   “Having said that,” Blinken added, “as we stand here almost a week into this campaign in the south after the humanitarian pause ended, it is imperative — it remains imperative — that Israel put a premium on civilian protection. And there does remain a gap between exactly what I said when I was there — the intent to protect civilians — and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”

   Israeli forces should focus on “a number of things,” Blinken said. The administration wants them to tell civilians where to go and when so they can be safe. Israel should also make “very clear” when it’s safe to move, he said. Israeli leaders must ensure that these “daily pauses” apply to a broad area, not just a single neighborhood, so people “have confidence to know that they can move out of harm’s way.”

   They should also pledge to “fully” supply the safe zones with food, medicine and water, Blinken said.

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/07/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-update-palestine/
   • Subliminal 8.1

     9 December 2023 at 8:44 am

     The real disconnect is between what people like Blinken and Biden say and what they do.

     Retired IDF Major General Yitzhak Brick reaffirmed in an interview recently that the assault on Gaza can only continue with the full backing of, and continual supply by, the US military. Turn this off and the assault sputters and dies. So please, spare us their crocodile tears
9. SPC 9

   9 December 2023 at 5:56 am

   The Washington Post review of the 4th GOP debate.

   https://wapo.st/46IL9zm

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