Shoot-out at the OK corral in Oz: “Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to be put below Labor on Liberal how-to-vote cards. The One Nation leader has shot back describing him as a “fool” and predicting it would lead to a Shorten Labor government.” https://nz.news.yahoo.com/libs-preference-one-nation-below-labor-233054044–spt.html
“The minor party has been rocked by revelations Senator Hanson questioned whether the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy during an undercover investigation by Qatari TV network Al Jazeera.”
Raises the question of just how big a portion of the electorate conspiracy theorists actually are, eh? Gallup established that around a third of the US electorate believed the moon landings were a govt hoax in a poll sometime in the seventies.
Sad that a man shoots himself because he has an illegal gun and fears he may go to prison again and he phones his ex wife and son from his ute and the police won’t let them answer him while he is saying goodbye to them. It’s heartbreaking stuff. He
likes carry imitation pistols and seemed to be a ‘loose cannon’.
The police will look to see if there was a connection between the shooter and this ex-army man from Afghanistan. They were alerted when his son put up a profile picture on his facebook page wearing some ‘play gear’ that looked real. The 54-year-old tried calling his son once and ex-partner twice, however officers told them not to answer the phone. His ex-partner briefly spoke to him, and he said goodbye, his son said.
Dubovskiy also called another friend, 21-year-old Jonathan Hinds.
“He just called me brother and said goodbye,” Hinds told Stuff. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/111596809/exrussian-soldier-dies-of-suspected-suicide-after-police-standoff-in-christchurch
One day, in frustration, I posted this social media status:
“If your anti-racism work prioritizes the ‘growth’ and ‘enlightenment’ of white America over the safety, dignity and humanity of people of color – it’s not anti-racism work. It’s white supremacy.”
“When it comes to the threat of Islamist terrorism, no one doubts the role of radicalisation. The internet, hate preachers such as Anjem Choudary and Abu Hamza, and the western-armed, extremism-exporting state of Saudi Arabia: all play their part in radicalising the impressionable. When it comes to the far right, however, this consensus is absent. The reason for this is as obvious as it is chilling: the hate preachers, recruiting sergeants and useful idiots of rightwing extremism are located in the heart of the British, European and American establishments. They are members of the political and media elite.”
we really do need to have a conversation about this at some stage, no matter the hurt. Cause it ain’t going away anytime soon.
Are you saying that the leadership of the Arabian states and Iranian state
This isn’t just a Islamic thing. All of the people without faith always have to consider any organisation and the people following them who goes for “do as I say rather than fo as I do”.
What you see in the Arab states is, to me, little different from what I see in the Israeli state, or in the secular religious states like China.
And Christianity has lonv history of doing the same.
I often think exactly what you think about Iran of the US as well. That was a probably the state founded most deeply as a Christian state. With its weaponry, deep faith populations and wealth – it remains a threat.
Probably its saving grace was that it founded after the reformation. As a result of the massive wars and repressions that erupted from that, it built a certain amount of secularism directly into its laws.
With Christianity, it gets hard to look past its long history of religiously justified slavery and colonization even before you look at religious actions covert and overt against neighbours – especially variants of it’s own faith. It is after all why we don’t have the Byzantines any more.
Personally I’d prefer that most faiths and the people adhering to them would concentrate on their own behaviours rather than judging that of others. It’d be a whole lot more inspiring than what I usually see.
No what i am saying is that we have discussed the Arabs and their problems and their terrorists continuously since the longest of time.
what we don’t like to speak about is our intervention ‘ to protect our interests’ in their political life, their economies, their self determination and if all fails our intervention at the point of a gun, invading whom ever we consider ‘roque’. I.e. Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, various countries in Africa, South America, the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran leading to the regime now, the war on drugs, and so on and so on.
We in fact know how hate, racism, and terror is created, we do a lot of this creation anywhere on this planet and we then exploit these acts to our advantage.
Now what we don’t speak about is why some 28 year old, well to do, ordinary average bloke, with average looks n height, is so fucked up that he believes that the only thing good about him is his color of skin, his european desendency and his believe that white means might and that he would kill for that. Why this guy fears he is being ‘replaced’ by others. We don’t speak about people in our media that dehumanizes others on the grounds of their virtue – single mothers, income – low income workers, their social status – useless benefit bludgers, or nudge nudge wink wink – brown people. We don’t even speak about our own fears of the ‘others’. WE are nice and polite and don’t speak his name, and don’t read his words, and don’t discuss how this guy could live among us. Cause fact is his white skin is according him many privileges that any brown, muslim 28 year old bloke never had.
The stench of ‘white extremism’ has been (far) right under NZ noses for a while, but Islam/Muslims!!
Sabine’s excellent quote points to the need for a clear-headed, unbiased approach to terrorist threat analyses in NZ – hopefully the Royal Commission of Inquiry will reveal just how even-handed (or not) the NZ GCSB/SIS/NAB et al. have been.
“It is important that no stone is left unturned to get to the bottom of how this act of terrorism occurred and what, if any, opportunities we had to stop it” – Ardern
The process should not be so terribly difficult, if we start with violent fringe spaces like 8Chan and parts of the dark web I wot not of.
I’m not sure Facebook has deserved all of its condemnation, but some care in moderation there seems not especially hurtful.
The modus operandi of recruiters or creators of violent fanatics are reasonably well documented. I venture to suggest that web literate analysts like Wikileaks or Bellingcat could readily produce a risk assessment profile of web forums with some predictive validity.
Start with the Churches and the end times extremists baying for a body count so they can get themselves all raptured AF, I reckon.
The first time I remember hearing Islam equated with terrorism from the pulpit, I was a 17-year-old junior at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis, where my mom was—still is, in fact—an elementary teacher. It was 1998, long before Islamophobia seized the Western mainstream. My family attended a small, nondenominational evangelical church in the suburb of Carmel, where my dad was the music pastor.
“A good Muslim,” our head pastor, Marcus Warner, intoned that Sunday morning, “should want to kill Christians and Jews.” He insisted that this was the only conclusion possible from a serious reading of the Quran. As a doubting young evangelical who would later become an agnostic, this extreme statement made me uncomfortable even then. Today, in the wake of the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, it should be considered every bit as offensive as the worst anti-Semitic tropes
Contemporary terrorists are as likely to be radicalized in chatrooms as churches or mosques, but condemning all chatrooms or churches or mosques would be neither reasonable nor effective.
For all that seems to have been true in the case of America’s worst contemporary terrorist, George Bush, reasonable numbers of shooters fit the profile of deculturized and disaffected persons. These are rarely members of thriving churches, which can provide a kind of social contact that is antithetical to murderous nihilism.
Somewhere along the way elite understanding of the role of churches seems to have been lost – they were once the social institutions that provided the kind of guidance or role modeling the likes of Jordan Peterson identify as being missing in contemporary society. Anthropologically speaking almost no society is without them in some form. Unable to cope with the pace of social change, their demise has created a void into which all kinds of lesser and less wholesome mysticisms and enthusiasms proliferate.
Somewhere along the way elite understanding of the role of churches seems to have been lost – they were once the social institutions that provided the kind of guidance or role modeling
A point I’ve gently made here many, many times over the years … at the same time it’s been open slather for atheists to mock, smear, attack and generally denigrate what we believe in. There are examples of this even on threads this past week.
And you know what? We accept this as part of the open discourse necessary in a tolerant, healthy society. And you’ll notice that long term regulars here like Ad and myself who have made it clear we do have a religious faith, also go about our participation here without openly pushing or promoting it onto others.
What does have to be at least a little irksome is how selective this has become; suddenly Islam is being protected by all the woke radical lefties, a favour they never extended to Christianity (or any number of other faiths.)
It was 1998, long before Islamophobia seized the Western mainstream.
It seems so to them because they were young at the time. Those of us who were adults at the time of the Rushdie fatwa have been familiar with Islam as a source of terrorism since the late 1980s. And I presume I’m only putting that date on it because I was young at the time myself, and it goes back further.
Police in France answer to:
Policing is centralized at the national level.[1] Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the “police municipale”.[1]
There are two national police forces called “Police nationale” and “Gendarmerie nationale”. The Prefecture of Police of Paris provides policing services directly to Paris as a subdivision of France’s Ministry of the Interior. Within these national forces only certain designated police officers have the power to conduct criminal investigations which are supervised by investigative magistrates.
National civilian police Force – major cities and large urban areas – under the Ministry of the Interior. Police Nationale.
Gendarmerie is part of the French armed forces and responsible for smaller towns and rural areas and important national locations. Its civil duties are under the
Ministry of the Interior and the rest are under the Ministry of Defence. Gendarmerie Nationale.
Local police of towns and cities, are under the oversight of Mayors. They can notice breaches but cannot investigate. There are also local police in the rural zones. Police municipale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_France
Police in NZ answer to: The current Minister of Police is Stuart Nash. While the New Zealand Police is a government department with a minister responsible for it, the Commissioner and sworn members swear allegiance directly to the Sovereign and, by convention, have constabulary independence from the government of the day.
If members of the police swear allegiance to the Crown only, and by convention?
have constabulary independence from the government of the day, I think it is time
to break that convention. There needs to be an Ombudsman type authority that watches and to whom they are beholden, who then reports to Parliament as a whole not just the government of the day. The Police Minister would also report to the ‘Ombudsman’ but be involved on a day-to-day basis and they would brief him and answer his/her questions.
Police as a business? There seems a whiff of that: Praise or complain about Police…
We will pass your comments on to the employee and their supervisor. … Write to or visit the officer in charge of any police station Find your nearest police station. https://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/praise-and-complain
Would it be better to have the decisions made about cases made by independent experienced magistrates used to working in the criminal and fraud field?
Well, for one thing, that is such a wild conspiracy theory that few believe it, so why bother?
For another thing, blame game has not seen as appropriate to date..
And your strange concern makes me wonder if you are pushing a political end – branding any criticism at all of Israeli Govt. policy as anti-Semitism?
I personally do not believe Mossad were involved in this.
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...
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by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
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In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
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This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
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The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
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Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
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Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...
The departure of "two Pākehā men" from the government's justice reform group will not hurt the quality of its final report, another member of the team says. ...
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...
Current leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Is Simon Bridges really trying to channel Donald Trump? Or is he taking his cue from Scott Morrison? Or is he looking to emulate Boris Johnson? Whatever the inspiration, there’s been a clear change in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]Michelle Grattan talks about the sad news of the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini. They also discuss Scott Morrison’s recent announcement about joining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...
A new poem by Oamaru-born poet Nick Ascroft.SupermanHalfway up the ascent zigzagging from Royal Terrace to upper Stuart Street carrying four too-heavy grocery bags I begin to understand that I will not make it. My huffing personage – from the fingers, white with the strain, to a face the colour of rhubarb – will ooze into the pavement and roll slowly ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.Sound the alarm, because it’s time for another absolute chaos pod. We’re talking haunted dolls in Waipu, we’re talking giant hands taking over Wellington, we’re talking soft serve cones dipped in powdered Milo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Press, Adjunct Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania This week, the ABC revealed that the Australian Defence Force wants to roll out military technology in Antarctica. The article raises the issue of what is, or is not, ...
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...
The lanky sidekick from Jono and Ben journeys around New Zealand trying to solve small town problems. Does he succeed?Guy Williams, hardly a shy, retiring type, has been screaming out for his own vehicle for years. A loud, lanky, fearless comic, he’s spent nearly a decade in MediaWorks purgatory, sat ...
Ballot Box.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The nature of New Zealand general election campaigns could be significantly changed with the proposed establishment of an “umpire” to adjudicate over political party manifesto policies. A suggestion has been put forward by the Government for the establishment of a parliamentary watchdog ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Ihumātao Delphine Herbert and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Tainui to buy Ihumātao land – sources Danielle ...
Extinction Rebellion takes a tour of downtown Wellington to point out the coal industry stalwarts and ask why they’re still there in the face of a climate emergency. “There are coal companies in Wellington??”That’s the incredulous response every single time we mention taking the public on a tour of the biggest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel A. Ankeny, Professor of History and Philosophy, and Deputy Dean Research (Faculty of Arts), University of Adelaide The South Australian government recently announced its intention to lift the long-standing statewide moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops, following a statutory six-week consultation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...
Online gambling is growing fast in New Zealand, but critics say new government ideas for regulating websites focus on what's good for the industry, rather than protecting people from harm. ...
An "extreme pro-Beijing" writer has caused controversy in the Chinese community and awkwardness for the Labour Party by standing for political office in Auckland. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern about slow progress for major transport projects, smoking researcher under pressure over funding, and hikoi marches from Ihumātao to Ardern’s office.NZTA is struggling to get spending out the door, so the money isn’t flowing through the economy, reports Thomas Coughlan ...
Daily review 28/03/2019 
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...43 mins ago
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...14 hours ago
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...15 hours ago
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...20 hours ago
22 hours ago
Nothing from me tody - I'm off to Christchurch to pretend to be other people for a weekend. Normal bloggage should resume on Tuesday. ...22 hours ago
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...1 day ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...1 day ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 2 days ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...3 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...4 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...4 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...6 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...6 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 week ago
1 week ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 week ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...1 week ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 1 week ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...2 weeks ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...13 hours ago
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...43 mins ago
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...43 mins ago
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...2 hours ago
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...2 hours ago
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...3 hours ago
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...8 hours ago
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...15 hours ago
Internet freedom advocates have slammed the Government for proposing censorship of online gambling sites. ...15 hours ago
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...15 hours ago
As Indonesia cracks down on protests in the disputed West Papua territory, the Government has declined to condemn the violence. ...15 hours ago
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...16 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...16 hours ago
17 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...17 hours ago
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...17 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...18 hours ago
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...18 hours ago
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...19 hours ago
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...19 hours ago
Fees for company directors are not keeping pace with their rising workload, according to a new survey. ...21 hours ago
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...21 hours ago
The Warehouse Group has upgraded its full year profit expectations again. ...21 hours ago
New Zealand-owned Kiwibank says it is winning more customers, demonstrated by a strong increase in deposits and lending. ...22 hours ago
Dairy's huge role earning export dollars for New Zealand is facing a threat some say could bring it to its knees. ...24 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...1 day ago
Online gambling is growing fast in New Zealand, but critics say new government ideas for regulating websites focus on what's good for the industry, rather than protecting people from harm. ...1 day ago
More than 100,000 Chinese citizens have studied in New Zealand in the past 20 years. ...1 day ago
An "extreme pro-Beijing" writer has caused controversy in the Chinese community and awkwardness for the Labour Party by standing for political office in Auckland. ...1 day ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern about slow progress for major transport projects, smoking researcher under pressure over funding, and hikoi marches from Ihumātao to Ardern’s office.NZTA is struggling to get spending out the door, so the money isn’t flowing through the economy, reports Thomas Coughlan ...1 day ago
Is Theresa May the only person at the Brexit poker table that realises that Britain does not hold all the aces?
Oh…
Brief story on Portugal and how the affects of changing their approach to drugs
Shoot-out at the OK corral in Oz: “Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to be put below Labor on Liberal how-to-vote cards. The One Nation leader has shot back describing him as a “fool” and predicting it would lead to a Shorten Labor government.” https://nz.news.yahoo.com/libs-preference-one-nation-below-labor-233054044–spt.html
“The minor party has been rocked by revelations Senator Hanson questioned whether the Port Arthur massacre was a government conspiracy during an undercover investigation by Qatari TV network Al Jazeera.”
Raises the question of just how big a portion of the electorate conspiracy theorists actually are, eh? Gallup established that around a third of the US electorate believed the moon landings were a govt hoax in a poll sometime in the seventies.
And this: https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/one-nation-sought-millions-of-dollars-from-americas-largest-gun-lobby/news-story/81aa8f50df99c15f5f6fb16a7fdc0b1c
pauline, your voice is shaking……
Tracey Ullman as nanny.
Lol
Sad that a man shoots himself because he has an illegal gun and fears he may go to prison again and he phones his ex wife and son from his ute and the police won’t let them answer him while he is saying goodbye to them. It’s heartbreaking stuff. He
likes carry imitation pistols and seemed to be a ‘loose cannon’.
The police will look to see if there was a connection between the shooter and this ex-army man from Afghanistan. They were alerted when his son put up a profile picture on his facebook page wearing some ‘play gear’ that looked real.
The 54-year-old tried calling his son once and ex-partner twice, however officers told them not to answer the phone. His ex-partner briefly spoke to him, and he said goodbye, his son said.
Dubovskiy also called another friend, 21-year-old Jonathan Hinds.
“He just called me brother and said goodbye,” Hinds told Stuff.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/111596809/exrussian-soldier-dies-of-suspected-suicide-after-police-standoff-in-christchurch
Recent:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/111622101/russian-man-found-dead-after-christchurch-police-standoff-was-intimidating-and-cold
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/police-investigate-link-between-christchurch-shooter-and-troy-dubovskiy-who-died-in-police-stand-off.html
Care in the community is awesome.
I would like to know why he was not deported years ago
Xtian values.
Great article
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/28/confronting-racism-is-not-about-the-needs-and-feelings-of-white-people
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/28/media-far-right-radicalisation-politics-hatred?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Telegram&fbclid=IwAR0tSicjQ2Xz9kaU79NPb-I8j_QWwOJaZ9DUvWdaoM3u_EI6H_S9Iy6SI_k
“When it comes to the threat of Islamist terrorism, no one doubts the role of radicalisation. The internet, hate preachers such as Anjem Choudary and Abu Hamza, and the western-armed, extremism-exporting state of Saudi Arabia: all play their part in radicalising the impressionable. When it comes to the far right, however, this consensus is absent. The reason for this is as obvious as it is chilling: the hate preachers, recruiting sergeants and useful idiots of rightwing extremism are located in the heart of the British, European and American establishments. They are members of the political and media elite.”
we really do need to have a conversation about this at some stage, no matter the hurt. Cause it ain’t going away anytime soon.
Are you saying that the leadership of the Arabian states and Iranian states are not hate-mongering extremists?
The hurt is well shared, the evidence rich and deep.
This isn’t just a Islamic thing. All of the people without faith always have to consider any organisation and the people following them who goes for “do as I say rather than fo as I do”.
What you see in the Arab states is, to me, little different from what I see in the Israeli state, or in the secular religious states like China.
And Christianity has lonv history of doing the same.
I often think exactly what you think about Iran of the US as well. That was a probably the state founded most deeply as a Christian state. With its weaponry, deep faith populations and wealth – it remains a threat.
Probably its saving grace was that it founded after the reformation. As a result of the massive wars and repressions that erupted from that, it built a certain amount of secularism directly into its laws.
With Christianity, it gets hard to look past its long history of religiously justified slavery and colonization even before you look at religious actions covert and overt against neighbours – especially variants of it’s own faith. It is after all why we don’t have the Byzantines any more.
Personally I’d prefer that most faiths and the people adhering to them would concentrate on their own behaviours rather than judging that of others. It’d be a whole lot more inspiring than what I usually see.
No what i am saying is that we have discussed the Arabs and their problems and their terrorists continuously since the longest of time.
what we don’t like to speak about is our intervention ‘ to protect our interests’ in their political life, their economies, their self determination and if all fails our intervention at the point of a gun, invading whom ever we consider ‘roque’. I.e. Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, various countries in Africa, South America, the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran leading to the regime now, the war on drugs, and so on and so on.
We in fact know how hate, racism, and terror is created, we do a lot of this creation anywhere on this planet and we then exploit these acts to our advantage.
Now what we don’t speak about is why some 28 year old, well to do, ordinary average bloke, with average looks n height, is so fucked up that he believes that the only thing good about him is his color of skin, his european desendency and his believe that white means might and that he would kill for that. Why this guy fears he is being ‘replaced’ by others. We don’t speak about people in our media that dehumanizes others on the grounds of their virtue – single mothers, income – low income workers, their social status – useless benefit bludgers, or nudge nudge wink wink – brown people. We don’t even speak about our own fears of the ‘others’. WE are nice and polite and don’t speak his name, and don’t read his words, and don’t discuss how this guy could live among us. Cause fact is his white skin is according him many privileges that any brown, muslim 28 year old bloke never had.
And we should discuss it. We really should.
The stench of ‘white extremism’ has been (far) right under NZ noses for a while, but Islam/Muslims!!
Sabine’s excellent quote points to the need for a clear-headed, unbiased approach to terrorist threat analyses in NZ – hopefully the Royal Commission of Inquiry will reveal just how even-handed (or not) the NZ GCSB/SIS/NAB et al. have been.
The process should not be so terribly difficult, if we start with violent fringe spaces like 8Chan and parts of the dark web I wot not of.
I’m not sure Facebook has deserved all of its condemnation, but some care in moderation there seems not especially hurtful.
The modus operandi of recruiters or creators of violent fanatics are reasonably well documented. I venture to suggest that web literate analysts like Wikileaks or Bellingcat could readily produce a risk assessment profile of web forums with some predictive validity.
Start with the Churches and the end times extremists baying for a body count so they can get themselves all raptured AF, I reckon.
The first time I remember hearing Islam equated with terrorism from the pulpit, I was a 17-year-old junior at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis, where my mom was—still is, in fact—an elementary teacher. It was 1998, long before Islamophobia seized the Western mainstream. My family attended a small, nondenominational evangelical church in the suburb of Carmel, where my dad was the music pastor.
“A good Muslim,” our head pastor, Marcus Warner, intoned that Sunday morning, “should want to kill Christians and Jews.” He insisted that this was the only conclusion possible from a serious reading of the Quran. As a doubting young evangelical who would later become an agnostic, this extreme statement made me uncomfortable even then. Today, in the wake of the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, it should be considered every bit as offensive as the worst anti-Semitic tropes
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/26/americas-islamophobia-is-forged-in-the-pulpit/
Contemporary terrorists are as likely to be radicalized in chatrooms as churches or mosques, but condemning all chatrooms or churches or mosques would be neither reasonable nor effective.
For all that seems to have been true in the case of America’s worst contemporary terrorist, George Bush, reasonable numbers of shooters fit the profile of deculturized and disaffected persons. These are rarely members of thriving churches, which can provide a kind of social contact that is antithetical to murderous nihilism.
Somewhere along the way elite understanding of the role of churches seems to have been lost – they were once the social institutions that provided the kind of guidance or role modeling the likes of Jordan Peterson identify as being missing in contemporary society. Anthropologically speaking almost no society is without them in some form. Unable to cope with the pace of social change, their demise has created a void into which all kinds of lesser and less wholesome mysticisms and enthusiasms proliferate.
That said, the wilder US churches are pretty out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBVcsWYJd8
Somewhere along the way elite understanding of the role of churches seems to have been lost – they were once the social institutions that provided the kind of guidance or role modeling
A point I’ve gently made here many, many times over the years … at the same time it’s been open slather for atheists to mock, smear, attack and generally denigrate what we believe in. There are examples of this even on threads this past week.
And you know what? We accept this as part of the open discourse necessary in a tolerant, healthy society. And you’ll notice that long term regulars here like Ad and myself who have made it clear we do have a religious faith, also go about our participation here without openly pushing or promoting it onto others.
What does have to be at least a little irksome is how selective this has become; suddenly Islam is being protected by all the woke radical lefties, a favour they never extended to Christianity (or any number of other faiths.)
It was 1998, long before Islamophobia seized the Western mainstream.
It seems so to them because they were young at the time. Those of us who were adults at the time of the Rushdie fatwa have been familiar with Islam as a source of terrorism since the late 1980s. And I presume I’m only putting that date on it because I was young at the time myself, and it goes back further.
Police in France answer to:
Policing is centralized at the national level.[1] Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the “police municipale”.[1]
There are two national police forces called “Police nationale” and “Gendarmerie nationale”. The Prefecture of Police of Paris provides policing services directly to Paris as a subdivision of France’s Ministry of the Interior.
Within these national forces only certain designated police officers have the power to conduct criminal investigations which are supervised by investigative magistrates.
National civilian police Force – major cities and large urban areas – under the Ministry of the Interior. Police Nationale.
Gendarmerie is part of the French armed forces and responsible for smaller towns and rural areas and important national locations. Its civil duties are under the
Ministry of the Interior and the rest are under the Ministry of Defence. Gendarmerie Nationale.
Local police of towns and cities, are under the oversight of Mayors. They can notice breaches but cannot investigate. There are also local police in the rural zones. Police municipale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_France
Police in NZ answer to:
The current Minister of Police is Stuart Nash. While the New Zealand Police is a government department with a minister responsible for it, the Commissioner and sworn members swear allegiance directly to the Sovereign and, by convention, have constabulary independence from the government of the day.
The New Zealand Police is perceived to have a minimal level of institutional corruption.[2][3]
wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Police
There is also an investigating body Independent Police Conduct Authority
https://www.ipca.govt.nz/
If members of the police swear allegiance to the Crown only, and by convention?
have constabulary independence from the government of the day, I think it is time
to break that convention. There needs to be an Ombudsman type authority that watches and to whom they are beholden, who then reports to Parliament as a whole not just the government of the day. The Police Minister would also report to the ‘Ombudsman’ but be involved on a day-to-day basis and they would brief him and answer his/her questions.
Police as a business? There seems a whiff of that:
Praise or complain about Police…
We will pass your comments on to the employee and their supervisor. … Write to or visit the officer in charge of any police station Find your nearest police station.
https://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/praise-and-complain
Would it be better to have the decisions made about cases made by independent experienced magistrates used to working in the criminal and fraud field?
Good points. Probably: Yes, it would, but few Kiwis will care enough to advocate…
When will there be a post about the Anti Semitic views that are being expressed, such as last weekend:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/jews-outraged-after-mosque-leader-blames-mossad-for-christchurch-attack.html
For many, anti Semitism is Hate Speech – something this site is big on but seems to turn a blind eye to when Jews and Israel is involved.
Hate Speech = racism, this needs to be addressed especially for those “Jew Baiters” here and elsewhere.
Well, for one thing, that is such a wild conspiracy theory that few believe it, so why bother?
For another thing, blame game has not seen as appropriate to date..
And your strange concern makes me wonder if you are pushing a political end – branding any criticism at all of Israeli Govt. policy as anti-Semitism?
I personally do not believe Mossad were involved in this.
OK?