Of all the things to use your platform for as Pacific role models. Endorsing hate speech against gay people? When it is Pacific young gay people who are tragically harmed by this bigotry? What a waste of a powerful profile. Disappointed.
This morning talking with my 23 year old daughter about all this. She is sharing with me heartbreaking stories of her Pacific friends coming ‘out’, the rejection by whānau, and resulting suicides due to this rejection. Stop this harm, stop it now. Use platforms for inclusivity.
What hateful statements like Israel and Maria Folau’s do, is apply more pressure to families that when your young person comes ‘out’ you are duty bound to reject them. I know there are multitudes of Pacific families who know there is a better way.
and this: “A lot of people look up to you, Israel. You and your words have power, privilege and meaning. Young kids look up to you as an award-winning sportsman. What you say stays in the hearts and minds of young Australians and Pasefika children.”
“The problem with using Leviticus as a basis for law is that it lists a whole bunch of things that were against the law at the time, so if you accept that homosexuals should be put to death, then you will also be wanting to follow the rest of the Leviticus laws that put people to death for eating pork, eating shellfish, charging interest on loans, mating different types of animals, wearing clothing made of two different kinds of material and of course the old planting your fields with two different kinds of seed.”
At the end of this letter you will see some of the names of Pasifika people you have condemned to hell along with some of our allies.
We want to let you know that your stance towards our LGBTQI+ people is the antithesis of being Christian.
…
We want you to know that the stakes are high for us in Aotearoa, Australia and in the Pacific.
Our youth suicide rates are the highest in the “developed” world and Pasifika who identify as LGBTQI+ are a significant number of those souls who take their own lives because of the intolerance, rejection and hatred from our own loved ones. While we like to think our Pasifika peoples are some of the most loving of all, you have highlighted that this is often not the case when it comes to LGBTQI+ peoples.
…
Our people have to find the courage, faith and the love as my own parents did, otherwise we will be forever locked in a lose-lose situation.
Campbell enjoyed the interview, goading the Aussie dinosaur into a near foaming frenzy.
Natrad gives airtime to these miserable apologies for humans…why?
Last week, as if arch feral farmer Farrar wasn’t hard enough to abide, Giggly Gym interviewed hate peddler Michael ‘only a mad person would choose to give birth to a disabled baby’ Laws as an augment to Te Banal.
I despair of our National broadcaster. We all know fwits like Folau are sadly allowed access to social media without adult supervision and we realize that continued outraged commentary merely gives oxygen to their juvenile rantings.
I was also disappointed that Campbell’s response to the social media responses, was to say opinion was divided. That actually validates the hate speech side.
What ‘hate speech’ side? What Falou said is not hate speech. And I’m really interested in the reaction to Sonny Bill’s answer when he’s asked the same question Falou was.
‘A renowned professor brings the West’s Syria propaganda crashing down, live on air.
Sachs, who has won numerous awards and honours, was speaking to MSNBC about the ongoing Syrian conflict on 12 April. And he said:
“This is a US mistake that started seven years ago…
The CIA and Saudi Arabia, together – in covert operations, tried to overthrow Assad. It was a disaster.”
An asteroid similar in size to one that exploded more than 100 years ago in Russia’s Tunguska region in Siberia gave Earth a close shave on Sunday (April 15), just one day after astronomers discovered the object.
University engineers in Glasgow are developing an innovative technique based on lasers that could radically change asteroid deflection technology.
The research at the University in Glasgow has unearthed the possibility of using a swarm of relatively small satellites flying in formation and cooperatively firing solar-powered lasers onto an asteroid – this would overcome the difficulties associated with current methods that are focused on large unwieldy spacecraft.
And that’s just one example. There are numerous others that use technology that’s already available.
they barely noticed it en route…
Which actually cries out for more space exploration – not less. We have absolutely no chance of finding these dangerous, world destroying asteroids, if we’re not even looking.
What could space exploration have done to prevent or avoid, ‘a hit’…
It develops the technology to deflect asteroids (and capture them as well for that matter) and the technology to find them so that we know that they’re coming in time to do something about it.
So a tiny independent radio station in Ireland managed to interview Robert Fisk on the ground in Douma, but none of the British mainstream broadcast media today has him on, despite the political fallout from our Syria bombing attacks being the main news story everywhere? Meantime MSM propagandists including Richard Hall (BBC), Dan Hodges (Mail) and Brian Whitaker (Guardian) and many more queue up to denounce Fisk on twitter from their cosy armchairs.
It bears repeating that the information on the alleged gas attacks – which raises great doubt but which Fisk himself does not claim as definitive – is not the most important part of Fisk’s article. The Hell of rule under the jihadists that we in the West are arming, funding, training, “military advising” and giving air support, alongside Saudi Arabia and Israel, is the indisputable and much more important element of Fisk’s report, as is the clear evidence he provides that the White Helmets are part of the jihadist factions.”
Another perspective.
Paul Craig Roberts.
He was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Reagan in 1981.
“It speaks to the humanity and moral greatness of the Russian government led by Vladimir Putin that Russia consented to a pretend attack in order that Donald Trump could save face. Unfortunately for us all, the consequences of Russia’s generosity will not be the thanks that the Russians deserve. Russia and Putin will get no credit for saving Trump from having to back down or have his naval flotilla sunk and his bombers shot down.
Russia is intent on avoiding a conflict, not because Russia is scared of the US military, but because Russia understands it is dealing with a government of psychopaths that are willing to destroy not only seven Muslim countries in whole or part within the past 17 years, but also the entirety of humanity. Therefore, Putin sidesteps each orchestrated confrontation and stands on international law and legal norms.
The result, however, is not what a humane person would expect. The result of Russian humaneness is to provoke more provocations from the evil that is the West.”
No idea what he did under Reagans presidency, but his present analysis on the united states and geopolitics in general makes a lot of sense. One of the few true antidotes to a broken media.
His economic philosophy was behind the reforms that all but ruined my community, cost friends and family their jobs, relationships and homes and in a few cases, their lives. The whole town resembled the Boys From The Blackstuff Green Man pub scene.
Personally, I was made redundant three times, 1988, 1992, and the straw that very nearly ruined me was the day in 1998 when both myself and my SO lost our jobs. We were left in debt with a half finished home and endured un/under employment and financial problems, exacerbated by struggles with poor health, substance abuse and the black dog. It took five years to climb out of that particular hole.
Roberts is stabled at a right-wing Russian think tank that takes it’s name from the Greek word κατέχον, which in Orthodox theology means he who resists the Antichrist, along side the likes of Aleksandr Dugin, Marine Le Pen, Bill Engdahl and assorted anti-Semites and Islamaphobes. The place is fucking Nostradamus come to life, complete with the great clash and the Russian bear riding to the rescue.
And you expect me to read and take his claptrap seriously?, I don’t fucking think so.
The final Atlas Network playbook puzzle piece is here, and it slipped in to Aotearoa New Zealand with little fan fare or attention. The implications are stark.Today, writes Dr Bex, the submission for the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill closes: 11:59pm January 16, 2025.As usual, the language of the ...
Excitement in the seaside village! Look what might be coming! 400 million dollars worth of investment! In the very beating heart of the village! Are we excited and eager to see this happen, what with every last bank branch gone and shops sitting forlornly quiet awaiting a customer?Yes please, apply ...
Much discussion has been held over the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB), the latest in a series of rightwing attempts to enshrine into law pro-market precepts such as the primacy of private property ownership. Underneath the good governance and economic efficiency gobbledegook language of the Bill is an interest to strip ...
We are concerned that the Amendment Bill, as proposed, could impair the operations and legitimate interests of the NZ Trade Union movement. It is also likely to negatively impact the ability of other civil society actors to conduct their affairs without the threat of criminal sanctions. We ask that ...
I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?And I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?Song: The Lonely Biscuits.“A bit nippy”, I thought when I woke this morning, and then, soon after that, I wondered whether hell had frozen over. Dear friends, ...
Early reports indicate that the temporary Israel/Hamas ceasefire deal (due to take effect on Sunday) will allow for the gradual release of groups of Israeli hostages, the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails (likely only a fraction of the total incarcerated population), and the withdrawal ...
My daily news diet is not what it once was.It was the TV news that lost me first. Too infantilising, too breathless, too frustrating.The Herald was next. You could look past the reactionary framing while it was being a decent newspaper of record, but once Shayne Currie began unleashing all ...
Hit the road Jack and don't you come backNo more, no more, no more, no moreHit the road Jack and don't you come back no moreWhat you say?Songwriters: Percy MayfieldMorena,I keep many of my posts, like this one, paywall-free so that everyone can read them.However, please consider supporting me as ...
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, I was not planning on writing anything about them… but as A Phuulish Fellow ...
Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...
A while back I was engaged in an unpleasant exchange with a leader of the most well-known NZ anti-vax group and several like-minded trolls. I had responded to a racist meme on social media in which a rightwing podcaster in the US interviewed one of the leaders of the Proud ...
Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...
Last year, 292 people died unnecessarily on our roads. That is the lowest result in over a decade and only the fourth time in the last 70 years we’ve seen fewer than 300 deaths in a calendar year. Yet, while it is 292 people too many, with each death being ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob HensonFlames from the Palisades Fire burn a building at Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire had destroyed thousands of structures and ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Regulatory Standards Bill, as I understand it, seeks to bind parliament to a specific range of law-making.For example, it seems to ensure primacy of individual rights over that of community, environment, te Tiriti ...
Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...
The future teaches you to be aloneThe present to be afraid and coldSo if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists…And if you tolerate thisThen your children will be nextSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Do you remember at school, studying the rise ...
When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, The City of AngelsLonely as I am together we crySong: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante.A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area. ...
Open access notablesLarge emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications:Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkGlobal surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time.These include CO2, which is the primary ...
There are times when movement around us seems to slow down. And the faster things get, the slower it all appears.And so it is with the whirlwind of early year political activity.They are harbingers for what is to come:Video: Wayne Wright Jnr, funder of Sean Plunket, talk growing power and ...
Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...
2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...
..I/We wish to make the following comments:I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill."5. Act binds the CrownThis Act binds the Crown."How does this Act "bind the Crown" when Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which the Act refers to, has been violated by the Crown on numerous occassions, resulting in massive loss of ...
Everything is good and brownI'm here againWith a sunshine smile upon my faceMy friends are close at handAnd all my inhibitions have disappeared without a traceI'm glad, oh, that I found oohSomebody who I can rely onSongwriter: Jay KayGood morning, all you lovely people. Today, I’ve got nothing except a ...
Welcome to 2025. After wrapping up 2024, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see this year along with a few predictions. Council and Elections Elections One of the biggest things this year will be local body elections in October. Will Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Canadians can take a while to get angry – but when they finally do, watch out. Canada has been falling out of love with Justin Trudeau for years, and his exit has to be the least surprising news event of the New Year. On recent polling, Trudeau’s Liberal party has ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Much like 2023, many climate and energy records were broken in 2024. It was Earth’s hottest year on record by a wide margin, breaking the previous record that was set just last year by an even larger margin. Human-caused climate-warming pollution and ...
Submissions on National's racist, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are due tomorrow! So today, after a good long holiday from all that bullshit, I finally got my shit together to submit on it. As I noted here, people should write their own submissions in their own ...
Ooh, baby (ooh, baby)It's making me crazy (it's making me crazy)Every time I look around (look around)Every time I look around (every time I look around)Every time I look aroundIt's in my faceSongwriters: Alan Leo Jansson / Paul Lawrence L. Fuemana.Today, I’ll be talking about rich, middle-aged men who’ve made ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 29, 2024 thru Sat, January 4, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Hi,The thing that stood out at me while shopping for Christmas presents in New Zealand was how hard it was to avoid Zuru products. Toy manufacturer Zuru is a bit like Netflix, in that it has so much data on what people want they can flood the market with so ...
And when a child is born into this worldIt has no conceptOf the tone of skin it's living inAnd there's a million voicesAnd there's a million voicesTo tell you what you should be thinkingSong by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.The moment you see that face, you can hear her voice; ...
While we may not always have quality political leadership, a couple of recently published autobiographies indicate sometimes we strike it lucky. When ranking our prime ministers, retired professor of history Erik Olssen commented that ‘neither Holland nor Nash was especially effective as prime minister – even his private secretary thought ...
Baby, be the class clownI'll be the beauty queen in tearsIt's a new art form, showin' people how little we care (yeah)We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fearLet's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like, yeah (yeah)Songwriters: Joel Little / Ella Yelich O ...
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
What I’ve Been Doing: I buried a close family member.What I’ve Been Watching: Andor, Jack Reacher, Xmas movies.What I’ve Been Reflecting On: The Usefulness of Writing and the Worthiness of Doing So — especially as things become more transparent on their own.I also hate competing on any day, and if ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by John Wihbey. A version of this article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections on Nov. 11, 2008. (Image credits: The White House, Jonathan Cutrer / CC BY 2.0; President Jimmy Carter, Trikosko/Library of Congress; Solar dedication, Bill Fitz-Patrick / Jimmy Carter Library; Solar ...
Morena folks,We’re having a good break, recharging the batteries. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday period. I’m not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, I’m afraid—not from a writing point of view, anyway.So, today, we’re travelling back in time. You’ll have to imagine the wavy lines and sci-fi sound ...
Completed reads for 2024: Oration on the Dignity of Man, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola A Platonic Discourse Upon Love, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Of Being and Unity, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The Life of Pico della Mirandola, by Giovanni Francesco Pico Three Letters Written by Pico ...
Welcome to 2025, Aotearoa. Well… what can one really say? 2024 was a story of a bad beginning, an infernal middle and an indescribably farcical end. But to chart a course for a real future, it does pay to know where we’ve been… so we know where we need ...
Welcome to the official half-way point of the 2020s. Anyway, as per my New Years tradition, here’s where A Phuulish Fellow’s blog traffic came from in 2024: United States United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Sweden Australia Germany Spain Brazil Finland The top four are the same as 2023, ...
Completed reads for December: Be A Wolf!, by Brian Strickland The Magic Flute [libretto], by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder The Invisible Eye, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Owl’s Ear, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Waters of Death, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Spider, by Hanns Heinz Ewers Who Knows?, by Guy de Maupassant ...
Well, it’s the last day of the year, so it’s time for a quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened in 2024 for urbanism and transport in our city. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in our mission to make ...
Leave your office, run past your funeralLeave your home, car, leave your pulpitJoin us in the streets where weJoin us in the streets where weDon't belong, don't belongHere under the starsThrowing light…Song: Jeffery BuckleyToday, I’ll discuss the standout politicians of the last 12 months. Each party will receive three awards, ...
Hi,A lot’s happened this year in the world of Webworm, and as 2024 comes to an end I thought I’d look back at a few of the things that popped. Maybe you missed them, or you might want to revisit some of these essay and podcast episodes over your break ...
Hi,I wanted to share this piece by film editor Dan Kircher about what cinema has been up to in 2024.Dan edited my documentary Mister Organ, as well as this year’s excellent crowd-pleasing Bookworm.Dan adores movies. He gets the language of cinema, he knows what he loves, and writes accordingly. And ...
Without delving into personal details but in order to give readers a sense of the year that was, I thought I would offer the study in contrasts that are Xmas 2023 and Xmas 2024: Xmas 2023 in Starship Children’s Hospital (after third of four surgeries). Even opening presents was an ...
Heavy disclaimer: Alpha/beta/omega dynamics is a popular trope that’s used in a wide range of stories and my thoughts on it do not apply to all cases. I’m most familiar with it through the lens of male-focused fanfic, typically m/m but sometimes also featuring m/f and that’s the situation I’m ...
Hi,Webworm has been pretty heavy this year — mainly because the world is pretty heavy. But as we sprint (or limp, you choose) through the final days of 2024, I wanted to keep Webworm a little lighter.So today I wanted to look at one of the biggest and weirdest elements ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 22, 2024 thru Sat, December 28, 2024. This week's roundup is the second one published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, ...
We’ll have a climate change ChristmasFrom now until foreverWarming our hearts and mindsAnd planet all togetherSpirits high and oceans higherChestnuts roast on wildfiresIf coal is on your wishlistMerry Climate Change ChristmasSong by Ian McConnellReindeer emissions are not something I’d thought about in terms of climate change. I guess some significant ...
KP continues to putt-putt along as a tiny niche blog that offers a NZ perspective on international affairs with a few observations about NZ domestic politics thrown in. In 2024 there was also some personal posts given that my son was in the last four months of a nine month ...
I can see very wellThere's a boat on the reef with a broken backAnd I can see it very wellThere's a joke and I know it very wellIt's one of those that I told you long agoTake my word I'm a madman, don't you knowSongwriters: Bernie Taupin / Elton JohnIt ...
.Acknowledgement: Tim PrebbleThanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work..With each passing day of bad headlines, squandering tax revenue to enrich the rich, deep cuts to our social services and a government struggling to keep the lipstick on its neo-liberal pig ...
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...
The Green Party welcomes the extension of the deadline for Treaty Principles Bill submissions but continues to call on the Government to abandon the Bill. ...
Complaints about disruptive behaviour now handled in around 13 days (down from around 60 days a year ago) 553 Section 55A notices issued by Kāinga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period in the previous year. Of that 553, first notices made up around 83 ...
The time it takes to process building determinations has improved significantly over the last year which means fewer delays in homes being built, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has a persistent shortage of houses. Making it easier and quicker for new homes to be built will ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is pleased to announce the annual list of New Zealand’s most popular baby names for 2024. “For the second consecutive year, Noah has claimed the top spot for boys with 250 babies sharing the name, while Isla has returned to the most popular ...
Work is set to get underway on a new bus station at Westgate this week. A contract has been awarded to HEB Construction to start a package of enabling works to get the site ready in advance of main construction beginning in mid-2025, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“A new Westgate ...
Minister for Children and for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is encouraging people to use the resources available to them to get help, and to report instances of family and sexual violence amongst their friends, families, and loved ones who are in need. “The death of a ...
Uia te pō, rangahaua te pō, whakamāramatia mai he aha tō tango, he aha tō kāwhaki? Whitirere ki te ao, tirotiro kau au, kei hea taku rātā whakamarumaru i te au o te pakanga mo te mana motuhake? Au te pō, ngū te pō, ue hā! E te kahurangi māreikura, ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says people with diabetes and other painful conditions will benefit from a significant new qualification to boost training in foot care. “It sounds simple, but quality and regular foot and nail care is vital in preventing potentially serious complications from diabetes, like blisters or sores, which can take a long time to heal ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this government assumed ...
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora e mua - Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead. Māori recipients in the New Year 2025 Honours list show comprehensive dedication to improving communities across the motu that ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is wishing all New Zealanders a great holiday season as Kiwis prepare for gatherings with friends and families to see in the New Year. It is a great time of year to remind everyone to stay fire safe over the summer. “I know ...
From 1 January 2025, first-time tertiary learners will have access to a new Fees Free entitlement of up to $12,000 for their final year of provider-based study or final two years of work-based learning, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Targeting funding to the final year of study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Parmeter, Research scholar, Middle East studies, Australian National University The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, to come into effect on Sunday, has understandably been welcomed by the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Palestinians. Israelis are relieved that a process for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Carson, Senior Research Fellow, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia Over the past several days, the world has watched on in shock as wildfires have devastated large parts of Los Angeles. Beyond the obvious destruction – to landscapes, homes, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rose Cairns, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, University of Sydney AtlasStudio/Shutterstock TikTok and Instagram influencers have been peddling the “Barbie drug” to help you tan. But melanotan-II, as it’s called officially, is a solution that’s too good to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paula Jarzabkowski, Professor in Strategic Management, The University of Queensland A series of wildfires in Los Angeles County have caused widespread devastation in California, including at least 24 deaths and the destruction of more than 12,000 homes and structures. Thousands of residents ...
COMMENTARY:By Monika Singh The lack of women representation in parliaments across the world remains a vexed and contentious issue. In Fiji, this problem has again surfaced for debate in response to Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica’s call for a quota system to increase women’s representation in Parliament. Kamikamica was ...
What compels someone of significant status in society to break the law, repeatedly, might be the same reason I did as a poor teenager. Former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, who left parliament a year ago today following revelations of shoplifting, is now at the centre of another shoplifting complaint. As ...
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What a hateful, uninformed tirade on Checkpoint tonight by Alan Jones in support of Israel Folau’s homophobic hate speech.
But I guess Jones has form as an ignorant right winger.
And Marama Davidson explained the issues on twitter yesterday
According to Wikipedia, Folau is attached to an Assemblies of God church.
Religion does a lot of damage.
Poor Israel, will he lose his tattoos to avoid the eternal hellfire?
As Bomber Bradbury puts it
“The problem with using Leviticus as a basis for law is that it lists a whole bunch of things that were against the law at the time, so if you accept that homosexuals should be put to death, then you will also be wanting to follow the rest of the Leviticus laws that put people to death for eating pork, eating shellfish, charging interest on loans, mating different types of animals, wearing clothing made of two different kinds of material and of course the old planting your fields with two different kinds of seed.”
A Pasifika, Christian response to Folau, byTuiloma Lina Samu on Spinof:
That’s so good to see
Campbell enjoyed the interview, goading the Aussie dinosaur into a near foaming frenzy.
Natrad gives airtime to these miserable apologies for humans…why?
Last week, as if arch feral farmer Farrar wasn’t hard enough to abide, Giggly Gym interviewed hate peddler Michael ‘only a mad person would choose to give birth to a disabled baby’ Laws as an augment to Te Banal.
I despair of our National broadcaster. We all know fwits like Folau are sadly allowed access to social media without adult supervision and we realize that continued outraged commentary merely gives oxygen to their juvenile rantings.
But hey… it’s all about ratings..
I was also disappointed that Campbell’s response to the social media responses, was to say opinion was divided. That actually validates the hate speech side.
What ‘hate speech’ side? What Falou said is not hate speech. And I’m really interested in the reaction to Sonny Bill’s answer when he’s asked the same question Falou was.
Reports 18,000 Syrian refugees have had organs harvested in the last six years – continues
https://youtu.be/uy0bF-PFpFI
From the Canary in the U.K.
‘A renowned professor brings the West’s Syria propaganda crashing down, live on air.
Sachs, who has won numerous awards and honours, was speaking to MSNBC about the ongoing Syrian conflict on 12 April. And he said:
“This is a US mistake that started seven years ago…
The CIA and Saudi Arabia, together – in covert operations, tried to overthrow Assad. It was a disaster.”
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/04/16/a-renowned-professor-brings-the-wests-syria-propaganda-crashing-down-live-on-air/
Turn your back, and the fuckers sneak up on you
An asteroid similar in size to one that exploded more than 100 years ago in Russia’s Tunguska region in Siberia gave Earth a close shave on Sunday (April 15), just one day after astronomers discovered the object.
https://www.space.com/40315-asteroid-2018-ge3-surprise-flyby.html
But, but, space exploration is useless activity and costs soooo much money…
/sarc
Yes it’s useless , Draco…
Space exploration wouldn’t have stopped the astroid…they barely noticed it en route…
What could space exploration have done to prevent or avoid, ‘a hit’…
Actually, they probably could nuke an object a few hundred metres wide with only limited notice.
But more exploration would give more notice to plan something less improvised.
Actually, it could have:
And that’s just one example. There are numerous others that use technology that’s already available.
Which actually cries out for more space exploration – not less. We have absolutely no chance of finding these dangerous, world destroying asteroids, if we’re not even looking.
It develops the technology to deflect asteroids (and capture them as well for that matter) and the technology to find them so that we know that they’re coming in time to do something about it.
bugger…you might be interested in this then…Cinny recomended, and is good (have watched first one)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Strange_Rock
MySky is set.
heh
the astronomers who first saw it must have kacked their pants
Since no-one else is taking the bait of today’s topical image, maybe I will.
… on second thought, I’ll let Stephen Colbert take it away.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-colbert-is-dying-to-know-who-sean-hannity-had-sex-with?ref=home
Best of the web.
Well, they’re beholden to the well-known bestiality lobby.
It’s obviously not against Leviticus to screw an ass on the grass, just as long as you don’t screw that ass in its arse.
The latest from Craig Murray.
“Living in Goebbels Land.
So a tiny independent radio station in Ireland managed to interview Robert Fisk on the ground in Douma, but none of the British mainstream broadcast media today has him on, despite the political fallout from our Syria bombing attacks being the main news story everywhere? Meantime MSM propagandists including Richard Hall (BBC), Dan Hodges (Mail) and Brian Whitaker (Guardian) and many more queue up to denounce Fisk on twitter from their cosy armchairs.
It bears repeating that the information on the alleged gas attacks – which raises great doubt but which Fisk himself does not claim as definitive – is not the most important part of Fisk’s article. The Hell of rule under the jihadists that we in the West are arming, funding, training, “military advising” and giving air support, alongside Saudi Arabia and Israel, is the indisputable and much more important element of Fisk’s report, as is the clear evidence he provides that the White Helmets are part of the jihadist factions.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/living-in-goebbels-land/
From Robin Westenra’s excellent website.
Another perspective.
Paul Craig Roberts.
He was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Reagan in 1981.
“It speaks to the humanity and moral greatness of the Russian government led by Vladimir Putin that Russia consented to a pretend attack in order that Donald Trump could save face. Unfortunately for us all, the consequences of Russia’s generosity will not be the thanks that the Russians deserve. Russia and Putin will get no credit for saving Trump from having to back down or have his naval flotilla sunk and his bombers shot down.
Russia is intent on avoiding a conflict, not because Russia is scared of the US military, but because Russia understands it is dealing with a government of psychopaths that are willing to destroy not only seven Muslim countries in whole or part within the past 17 years, but also the entirety of humanity. Therefore, Putin sidesteps each orchestrated confrontation and stands on international law and legal norms.
The result, however, is not what a humane person would expect. The result of Russian humaneness is to provoke more provocations from the evil that is the West.”
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/04/14/russias-humanity-moral-conscience-leading-war/
He was Ronnie Raygun’s supply side guru, you know, one of the pricks responsible for neo-liberal shit fight that you say you loathe.
No idea what he did under Reagans presidency, but his present analysis on the united states and geopolitics in general makes a lot of sense. One of the few true antidotes to a broken media.
Have you read his articles?
His economic philosophy was behind the reforms that all but ruined my community, cost friends and family their jobs, relationships and homes and in a few cases, their lives. The whole town resembled the Boys From The Blackstuff Green Man pub scene.
Personally, I was made redundant three times, 1988, 1992, and the straw that very nearly ruined me was the day in 1998 when both myself and my SO lost our jobs. We were left in debt with a half finished home and endured un/under employment and financial problems, exacerbated by struggles with poor health, substance abuse and the black dog. It took five years to climb out of that particular hole.
Roberts is stabled at a right-wing Russian think tank that takes it’s name from the Greek word κατέχον, which in Orthodox theology means he who resists the Antichrist, along side the likes of Aleksandr Dugin, Marine Le Pen, Bill Engdahl and assorted anti-Semites and Islamaphobes. The place is fucking Nostradamus come to life, complete with the great clash and the Russian bear riding to the rescue.
And you expect me to read and take his claptrap seriously?, I don’t fucking think so.