Daily Review 18/07/2018

21 comments on “Daily Review 18/07/2018 ”

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1. Kat 1

   18 July 2018 at 7:24 pm

   Melania is humming that Stephen Stills song….. “So we change partners, Time to change partners, You must change partners………………………………………. “Please”

   May of course being a fan of Bouncy Castle rides has a grin on her face and wants to leg-it……….
2. Carolyn_Nth 2

   18 July 2018 at 7:35 pm

   Do we know where the Tax Payers Union and the Freeze Peach coalition get their funding.

   In 2015, David Fisher reported that Jordan Williams would not say where the TPU got it’s money.

   And where did the Freeze Peach coalition get $90,000 so quickly?

   And they are using that money to bring a suit against Auckland Council for not allowing them to use a venue. They say private organisations won’t provide them with a venue in Auckland either…. and they have all that money?

   This is surely a contradiction of TPU’s small government, anti public services ethos?

   Anyway, George Monbiot has an article published today about the corruption of democracy and the whole western system by dark money.

   Dark money can be seen as the underlying corruption from which our immediate crises emerge: the collapse of public trust in politics, the rise of a demagogic anti-politics, and assaults on the living world, public health and civic society. Democracy is meaningless without transparency.

   The techniques now being used to throw elections and referendums were developed by the tobacco industry, and refined by biotechnology, fossil fuel and junk food companies. Some of us have spent years exposing the fake grassroots campaigns they established, the false identities and bogus scientific controversies they created, and the way in which media outlets have been played by them. Our warnings went unheeded, while the ultra-rich learned how to buy the political system.

   So, probably the whole beat up by the Freeze Peach Union is probably not about free speech at all, but about big money yet again leading the public debate and, ultimately undermining democracy.

   How about the FSU and TPU being more transparent and telling us all where their funding comes from?
   • Pat 2.1

     18 July 2018 at 7:42 pm

     why are you so afraid of a contrary viewpoint?…particularly one thats only likely to attract a few 10s of listeners.
     • AsleepWhileWalking 2.1.1

       18 July 2018 at 8:01 pm

       They are being quoted for Stuff articles. Hardly 10 or so readers.
       • Pat 2.1.1.1

         18 July 2018 at 8:08 pm

         i said 10s….and in any case, is your opinion of your fellow citizens so low that you believe a significant proportion of them would seek to develop a society that would threaten themselves and their loved ones?….think about it…if they had spoken their audience would likely have included a proportion of ex pat South Africans (given the speakers) and thats entirely understandable…they have family/friends there and the SA gov is likely to announce land reclamation without compensation in the next few weeks….how would you react?.
         • Carolyn_Nth 2.1.1.1.1

           18 July 2018 at 8:26 pm

           Why do you assume I am afraid of them being heard? They are quite welcome to have a meeting in Auckland as far as I am concerned. I will not be attending or protesting against it.

           But, did you not read what I said? I do not think they are terribly interested in free speech but are using the issue. And the media is largely taking them at face value… not to mention Trotter et al.

           I am asking about their funding. They have obtained $90,000 very quickly. Meanwhile E-tangata is struggling to get funding to enable Māori and Pacific people to get their views heard more in the mainstream.

           Where is the Freeze Peachers’ transparency? Why are the backers afraid to be known? And basically, my comment was particularly triggered by reading Monbiot’s article about dark money. There seems to be a widespread pattern internationally to subvert democratic debate. That is my concern.

           I am also now concerned that they seem to be targeting Goff and the Council at the expense of ordinary people. That looks like the Freeze Peachers have a different agenda from what they are claiming.

           They are now claiming they can’t get any other venue in Auckland, and have filed a suit against the Council – that will cost many ordinary Aucklanders, many of whom never get a platform to express their views. The Freeze Peachers look like they are trying to pressure the council into giving them a venue, without going to court, and that looks to me like they are now aiming for a big PR victory through these tactics.

           Why are you accepting these charlatans at face value?
           • Pat 2.1.1.1.1.1

             18 July 2018 at 8:49 pm

             the latest i have read is the case is going ahead’
             I dont take them at face value..in fact i believe they are funded but that dosnt change anything for me…i think that its critical that we allow people to express their views (and have their views expressed) . if we seek to impose an’ acceptable’ narrative we never progress….would you like to be stuck with the mores of the 1950s for example?….we have numerous examples in the past where social attitudes were attempted to be maintained bt suppression…its wrong and ultimately its counterproductive.

             If life has taught me anything its that we need to believe in the basic decency of the bulk of people (yes i know there are exceptions)…but for the bulk of human decency to prevail they need the freedom and power to suceed
             • Carolyn_Nth …

               18 July 2018 at 8:53 pm

               My initial comment was not about the Canadians having a say in Auckland or being prevented from doing that.

               It was about funding, manipulation of the media and public debate and the whole pattern of this being funded by dark money.

               You’ve gone off on your own tangent.

               My comment was particular motivated by Monbiot’s article on dark money. That and the continuing manipulations of Jordan Williams et al is a far bigger and on-going issue than a couple of Canadian speakers.
               • Pat …

                 18 July 2018 at 9:09 pm

                 my apologies…i saw the Freeze Peach and assumed…..one should never…nor drink and post….i shall now read Monbiot as penance (not really)
               • Pat …

                 18 July 2018 at 9:33 pm

                 sadly Mr Monbiots article is not news
   • mickysavage 2.2

     18 July 2018 at 8:17 pm

     Republicans changed the law recently so the NRA no longer has to disclose who donates to it …
     • Pat 2.2.1

       18 July 2018 at 8:20 pm

       fortunately we dont live in america…but we could make it like there if we try hard enough.
     • joe90 2.2.2

       18 July 2018 at 8:40 pm

       Coincidentally, an arrest too.
   • corodale 2.3

     19 July 2018 at 6:58 am

     Friends of the Business Round Table would be a logical guess; funding flat-earthers, so the real issues don’t make the front page.
3. Anne 3

   18 July 2018 at 8:19 pm

   A Canadian analyst tells ABC he believes the Russians are holding compromising material on Trump:

   http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/the-world/2018-07-17/what-does-russia-have-on-us-president-donald-trump/10006380
4. JC 4

   18 July 2018 at 8:40 pm

   “It was just amazing. She came straight over to me, wagging her whole body and just jumped all over me. I was beside myself.”

   https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/dog-nabbed-outside-burger-bar-reunited-owners
5. marty mars 5

   18 July 2018 at 9:51 pm

   “”His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise,” Mr Musk said.”

   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44870303

   That isn’t an apology mate.
6. marty mars 6

   18 July 2018 at 9:58 pm

   Not good.

   “At least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox.

   The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes, which have broken out across a wide range of its territory and prompted the evacuations of four communities.

   Tens of thousands of people have been warned to remain inside and close windows and vents to avoid smoke inhalation. Rail services have been disrupted.

   The Copernicus Earth observation satellite, which gives daily updates of fires in Europe, shows more than 60 fires burning in Sweden, with sites also ablaze in the Arctic latitudes of Norway, Finland and Russia.”

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/18/sweden-calls-for-help-as-arctic-circle-hit-by-wildfires
   • Exkiwiforces 6.1

     18 July 2018 at 11:41 pm

     Jeez, that’s not good and I wish them luck to put out those fires, I’m heading back out to my bush block in two weeks time for our peak fire season as she is already dry as a badgers bum atm as it was bad a enough on cracker night 2wks ago for the townie firies.
     • marty mars 6.1.1

       19 July 2018 at 8:19 am

       Good luck out there mate
7. corodale 7

   19 July 2018 at 7:00 am

   No calves at calf club this year! Expect sustainable farming to make gains out of that chaos.

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