Dear America Antifa is not the problem

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, August 5th, 2019 - 52 comments
Categories: Christchurch Attack, Donald Trump, law and "order", terrorism, uncategorized, us politics - Tags: ,

It has been a desperately bad couple of days in the United States of America with the 249th and 250th mass shooting of the year occurring.

The 249th had significant links to the Christchurch shooting with the shooter claiming inspiration from the events in Christchurch, and having prior to the shooting posted a manifesto on 8chan just as the Christchurch shooter did.  The manifesto claimed similar white supremacist reasons for the shooting and railed against immigrants and Hispanics and the supposed destruction of the American way of life.

Eighteen people were killed and at least 24 people injured after the shooting at the border town of El Paso, Texas.

Then this morning number 250 happened.  Details of the motivation of the shooter have not been released yet but six of the nine people killed were black.  One was the shooter’s sister. The shooter was wearing body armor and used a .223 caliber high-capacity gun. He also additional magazines with him.

These are not recent blips.  From Lois Beckett at the Guardian:

In the past eight years, more than 175 people around the world have been killed in at least 16 high-profile attacks motivated, or apparently motivated, by white nationalist conspiracy theories, including the far right racist belief that nonwhite immigrants and refugees are “invaders” who pose an existential threat to the white race.

The targets of deadly attacks have included Muslim worshippers at mosques in Canada, Britain and New Zealand; black Americans in church, including during Bible study at a historic black church in South Carolina; Jewish Americans in synagogues across the United States; and left-wing politicians and activists in the US, UK, Greece, and Norway.

Now, law enforcement officials in the United States are investigating two more mass shootings with potential links to white nationalist radicalization.

An attack on Saturday at a Walmart superstore in El Paso, Texas, a majority-Hispanic city, which left 20 people dead and more than two dozen wounded, and a shooting the previous weekend at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, packed with families with young children, which left three people dead and 15 wounded.

Many of the white male perpetrators or suspects in these attacks have explicitly described immigrants and refugees as “invaders” or an “invasion” online, and have cited previous white nationalist killers as the inspiration for their attacks.

Several of these deadly attacks have also been closely linked to mainstream political debates over refugees and immigration

So what have senior Republican American politicians been doing lately to protect American citizens from being shot by mass shooters?  They have been targeting an organisation that has been responsible for, just checking my notes, no mass shootings. 

It seems that the cause for this heightened sensitivity to Antifa was an attack on a right wing provocateur Andy Ngo.  But he has a history, similar to Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux, of going into a community, stirring up hatred, then complaining about his treatment.  Vox has this description of Ngo’s behaviour:

The publication where Ngo is an editor, Quillette, is widely seen as a major hub of the “intellectual dark web” — a loose collection of anti-political correctness, anti-identity politics, anti-left media figures and reporters. Ngo is the closest thing the intellectual dark web has to a gonzo journalist, someone who goes into allegedly hostile places and documents them for his more than 200,000 Twitter followers to illustrate that the IDW is right about the threat from multiculturalism and the left.

Last year, for example, Ngo went to the UK to chronicle the supposed threat the rising Muslim population posed to British society. The resulting article, “A Visit to Islamic England,” claimed England was being quietly conquered by fundamentalist Islam.

The piece was shredded by actual Brits. Most amusingly, Ngo presented a London sign reading “alcohol restricted zone” as evidence of Islamic dominance in the Whitechapel neighborhood; it was actually a public safety ordinance designed to discourage public acts of drunkenness from patrons of nearby pubs, bars, and strip clubs.

Ngo’s coverage of left-wing protesters is similarly ideological. He views left-wing activists, like Muslim immigrants to the West, as a threat to free and open societies. His reporting plays upacts of vandalism, violence, and hostility to free speech without a comparable focus on the much more frequent and deadly actions of right-wing extremists.

Antifa is a perfect foil for Ngo. The group of typically black-clad activists are radicals who believe the best way to deal with the rise of white supremacy and hate groups in the Trump era is by confronting them on the street. Sometimes, this means organizing demonstrations against them; other times, it means brawling in the streets.

“They view self-defense as necessary in terms of defending communities against white supremacists,” Mark Bray, a Dartmouth historian who studies antifa, told my colleague Sean Illing in a 2017 interview. “They have no allegiance to liberal democracy, which they believe has failed the marginalized communities they’re defending. They’re anarchists and communists who are way outside the traditional conservative-liberal spectrum.”

But clearly the Republican Party senior leadership had its finger in the pulse of America when it was working out what was wrong with American society:

Yet apart from the subversive use of milkshakes and some rough treatment of Ngo this as far as I can ascertain ntends to be the extent of Antifa violence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfwpkNu8t40

America you have a problem.  And it is not Antifa.

52 comments on “Dear America Antifa is not the problem ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Sabine 1
    5 August 2019 at 12:24 pm

    no they have an issue with the economic anxiety of the white working class male and the orange dipshit in the white house who gets off on violence and misery.

  2. weka 2
    5 August 2019 at 1:22 pm

    I agree, antifa aren't the problem at all. The Republicans are a lost cause imo, and will always choose guns and try to blame radicals. The only hope I can see is mass mobilisation on the streets and via strikes. So many people are still in denial of how bad things are in the US, and denial not just there. If the worst happens in the US, I can't see how we will not be affected here. We should be preparing for that now.

    Re Ngo, I'm not condemning US antifa generally, I see them as the inevitable result of the mainstream in the US not stepping up to stop fascism as it is happening. Someone needs to do something, urgently. But some tactics are not helpful and this was one of them.

    The antifa plan to attack, and then the attack, on Ngo was wrong. Push back against his work definitely needs to happen, but if the left sanctions violence against journalists, especially premeditated violence, we're going to have no moral or rational ground to stand on when the fascists start attacking LW journalists. We know where that's going to go.

    He didn't get roughed up, he got physically assaulted.

    • Sabine 2.1
      5 August 2019 at 1:37 pm

      I guess if you want to promote white supremacy, might makes right, women back to the kitchen barefeet and pregnant, blacks back in the bus, and hispanics only when you have tomatoes to pick, then yes anyone not marching lockstep needs to be shut down and fast. Bye Antifa – you are now a terrorist group.

      Never mind that young white bloke with the guns shooting up people in shopping centre. That is not a terrorist, that is just a lone wolf with economic anxiety who can't get laid and is mentally ill.

    • Grumpy 2.2
      5 August 2019 at 3:12 pm

      You need to think this through some more. Both shooters were registered Democrats. The similarity between them and Antifa (a white fascist group) is stronger than you realise.

      • weka 2.2.1
        5 August 2019 at 3:23 pm

        I'd be surprised if very many antifa were Democrats, other than for tactical reasons.

        • Adrian Thornton 2.2.1.1
          5 August 2019 at 6:26 pm

          I would say that a large amount of them would be sanders supporters..with good reason.

  3. Adrian Thornton 3
    5 August 2019 at 2:03 pm

    You know it is really funny that this article quotes from the news sources like The Guardian and Vox, they along with most other so called liberal media have been at best undermining and delegitimizing and at worst straight out slandering and lying the two Left Wing political leaders with the longest and best histories of fighting racism in both their respective parties…of course I am talking about Corbyn and Sanders…so fuck The Guardian and those other bullshit 'liberal' media outlets..IMO they just as responsible for these right wing nutters feeling emboldened as FOX.

    If you suppress the natural Left wing shift, acting effectively as a safety valve during periods of mass push back against the status quo then the anger and dissatisfaction will find that release somewhere else…usually expressed as the far right, just like now in the US.

  4. Treetop 4
    5 August 2019 at 2:40 pm

    It is never all right to express being disillusioned using a firearm.

    Once again some state governor uses sincere words to calm and sooth. It is clear to me that the amendment to carry a firearm is a licience which does not have the right restrictions to prevent harm.

    About 6 months ago a woman from the states made this comment in regard to a mass shooting. I don't want your prays, I want the gun laws to be tightened.

  5. Grumpy 5
    5 August 2019 at 3:42 pm

    You need to think this through some more. Both shooters were registered Democrats. The similarity between them and Antifa (a white fascist group) is stronger than you realise.

    • mpledger 5.1
      5 August 2019 at 3:53 pm

      Credible citations please. The names have barely been made public so I don't see how their party registration can be known so quickly.

      • Dukeofurl 5.1.2
        5 August 2019 at 4:01 pm

        Right to correct that mp..

        Its likely to be complete bulls%$#

        "Finally, the manifesto ends by decrying interracial couples and proposes separating the United States into territories based on race. The author points to white supremacist theories that “stronger and/or more appealing cultures overtake weaker and/or undesirable ones.”

        The conservative Democrats of Texas went over to Republicans around the time of Nixon. This guy is Make America Great Again fodder not Democrats

        Grumpy is another MAGA stooge

        • Sabine 5.1.2.1
          5 August 2019 at 4:57 pm

          two different shooters.

          the one in El Paso is the one with the manifesto, who drove 10 hours – some 650 miles to kill hispanics.

          the other one – registered dem – is the one who started by killing his sister (who was on a night out with a male friend), did not succeed in killing her male friend (was in hospital i read) and then went on to kill nine people out for a drink and laugh. btw, the majority of people killed by that fuckwit are black. But hey, that might just be a mighty coincidence.

          I find it funny that people believe that only R can be racists, or supremacists, or just simply fucked up in their heads.

          It is however true that only the republicans refuse to do something about health care – inclusive mental health care, that it is only the republicans that refuse to do something about gun violence – 15 month a go a bipartisan bill passed congress to allow for back ground checks, red line laws (i.e. remove guns/weapons from people with a history of domestic violence) etc yet the republican leader of the senate #massacremitch refuses to allow this bill on the floor for a vote, and that so far the only president to be openly racists -i.e. invasion of people of color, all mexicans are rapists and murderes, send them back chants, etc.

          As for antifa, i don't think a whole lot of them are registered to any party in US. Why would they bother?

          • Poission 5.1.2.1.1
            5 August 2019 at 5:34 pm

            The Ohio Shooter has a different profile,and a history of kill lists ,which would suggest mental health issues.

            Local news is often more informative.

            https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/new-details-dayton-shooter-obsessed-with-killing-bellbrook-classmates-say/uCuyd2JeZzo70NDgArsqOI/

            • Sabine 5.1.2.1.1.1
              5 August 2019 at 7:05 pm

              i think all of these shooters have an issue with mental health.

              however mental illness should not serve as a cheap excuse for those that are white while those that are brown and / or muslim are held to a different standard. And that is what is happening here.

              Brown? terrorist of the worst type

              white? lone wolf, mental illness, can't get laid / incel, etc etc etc.

              and really i think this is the double standard that people are getting sick of. they are all terrorists be they white, brown or speckled. They are all terrorists.

              and non of that takes away from the fact that there were 250 mass shootings in the us as of today, 900 odd people hurt and 250 odd dead.

              Add in a bit of casual racism, a bit of butt hurt cause white does not equal might anymore, a bit of pent up sexual frustration – not before marriage, a bit of boredom at low wage jobs or no jobs and easy access to all sorts of weaponry and you quickly have a recipe for disaster.

      • Grumpy 5.1.3
        5 August 2019 at 4:08 pm

        El Paso shooter – cant do cut and paste here but Google works.

    • Gabby 5.2
      5 August 2019 at 4:03 pm

      Any fuckknuckle can register as whatever s/he fancies grumpers.

      • Grumpy 5.2.1
        5 August 2019 at 4:13 pm

        True but retweeting Antifa? Google is interesting but shows (as you say) fuckknuckleness is universal.

    • Macro 5.3
      5 August 2019 at 4:05 pm

      You have proof of that assertion?

      • greywarshark 5.4.1
        5 August 2019 at 5:15 pm

        Kids – Info Pending (Just checking to see if one is in the womb and what the ultrasound shows to be its gender; or is it amniotic fluid? No worry if they don't know they can always make it up.)

        What a country. But I don't know why they shoot other people, surely they should respect the right of others to walk the walk of America.

        Tacky kacky?

      • joe90 5.4.2
        5 August 2019 at 10:56 pm

        Surprise, the dumbest man on the internet makes shit up.

  6. Stuart Munro. 6
    5 August 2019 at 3:43 pm

    The meeting of people taught a call-out culture with those with significant grievances holds considerable potential for ongoing violence and unrest, which serves the interests of shoddy governments like Trump's, that always need plenty of distractions. A violent Antifa is tailor made for demonizing by a kakistocrat like Trump irrespective of the justice of their cause or actions.

    Maybe direct confrontation is not the best way to deal with the issue – an approach like forming a group Nazis for Trump parodying the worst aspects of his low demagoguery might have some advantages – it could be a lot of Mitchell & Webb type fun.

  7. Richard@DownSouth 7
    5 August 2019 at 4:47 pm

    Antifa by definition aren't an organisation… it'd be like saying you're being arrested or shot because of your skin colour… oh wait we're talking about the USA

  8. Chris T 8
    5 August 2019 at 5:39 pm

    No, ANTIFA nutters are a problem.

    They are just currently a slightly lesser problem than the the far right nutters.

    You don't have to have one is, one isn't

    The radical lot on both sides can be bad at the same time.

  9. SHG 9
    5 August 2019 at 5:49 pm

    Fuck Antifa and fuck everyone who supports them. They are the Right’s greatest marketing tool.

    • Adrian Thornton 9.1
      5 August 2019 at 6:30 pm

      No they are not..centrist liberals are ' Right’s greatest marketing tool' ..idiots like Maddow give them plenty of ammo almost nightly.

  10. Poission 10
    5 August 2019 at 5:56 pm

    The publication where Ngo is an editor, Quillette, is widely seen as a major hub of the “intellectual dark web” — a loose collection of anti-political correctness, anti-identity politics, anti-left media figures and reporters.

    Hilarious its IYI central.

    https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/889819353906110474

    https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/1158016723347484672

    • Stuart Munro. 10.1
      6 August 2019 at 6:14 am

      It's a curious piece of confirmation of the 'shy Tory' hypothesis that they lurk on the dark web. Though of course if Dawkins really valued clarity logic and objective truth he wouldn't have spent so much time recycling Huxley, nor would he have found himself on the wrong side of E O Wilson.

  11. vto 11
    5 August 2019 at 6:04 pm

    In the olden days I imagine many revolutions were quite noticeable. They were either on or they weren't.

    I just wonder if this no longer applies and a revolution is already underway, thanks largely to the internet aiding the congregation and planning by groups. Sometimes such societal change can be sneaky and quiet and is found to be happening after it is already well underway.

    There are a whole bunch of things happening around the globe, all largely seen as isolated and unrelated, but if they link up then it might be too late to stop, or do anything about.

    Are we at this point already? Has a revolution begun and we haven't really noticed? (of course we have noticed, but perhaps haven't recognised it as such).

    It all kinda has the feeling of being unstoppable…. I said to someone close a few years ago… I wonder when the day will come that the USA has a mass shooting every day…

    what does that actually mean? A mass shooting every day…

    care to take a guess?

    • Andre 11.1
      5 August 2019 at 6:13 pm

      Mass killing was defined by Congress in 2013 to be the murder of three or more people in one event (excluding the perp). USA gun deaths are over 100 a day as it is. Of those, roughly 40 a day are homicides. Mass shootings are just a teeny-tiny part of the American gun problem.

      • vto 11.1.1
        5 August 2019 at 6:18 pm

        Yeah, I don't think its a gun and murder thing per se. I think there is more going on, much more… the gun is just an enabler for the underlying movement which is happening I suspect

        • Macro 11.1.1.1
          5 August 2019 at 6:51 pm

          Many of the 100 deaths by gun per day in the US are suicide by gun. The ease of access to guns – around 1.2 guns per person in the US – makes the act of taking one's life so much easier in the US than any other country. Death by gun is the most favoured method of suicide in the US over 50% who take their lives do it by firearm. They represent over 20,000 of the around 37,000 deaths by gun in the US per year.

  12. New view 12
    5 August 2019 at 8:02 pm

    The USA population is no different to any where else. It’s the availability of hand guns and automatic weapons that is the difference. But more than that it’s because the population knows they can buy these weapons and the appalling violence seen there is only an encouragement for people to to load up to protect themselves. It will take a Government prepared to be voted out to change the gun laws. That takes courage, and politicians are notoriously gutless.

  13. Jenny - How to Get there? 13
    6 August 2019 at 3:30 am

    No photo description available.

  14. Jenny - How to Get there? 14
    6 August 2019 at 4:50 am

    Whatever happened to Trump's claim that there were fine people on both sides?

    It seems that in Trump's eyes there were fine people on only one side, and it wasn't the antifascist side.

    The sooner this right wing extremist is out of office the better.

    It concerns me that the Democrat Party establishment are favouriing Biden as their candidate.

    Just as he did with Clinton, Trump will wipe the floor with an establishment candidate.

  16. Jenny - How to Get there? 16
    11 August 2019 at 4:38 am

    Dear New Zealand Maori land protectors are not the problem.

    Instead of deploying dozens of police to Ihumateo to protect the commercial interests of Fletchers All available police resources should be deployed to track down the neo-nazi white supremacist killer on the loose, before he commits another atrocity.

    Who knows what could happen if this racist killer gets hold of a weapon, or his known associates supply him with one.

    …..a member of a notorious and extremely violent white power gang, the Fourth Reich, co-founded by convicted murderer and rapist Malcolm Chaston while he was in Christchurch Men’s Prison in the 1990s.

    Witnesses at the nine day trial said the day before the murder they heard Howie say: “If any Māoris get in the way we will knock them down,”. His brother gave evidence that Howie told him: “We killed that n….. and threw him in the river.”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/114906063/dangerous-convicted-killer-aaron-howie-on-the-run-from-police

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    Last month, we learned that the government was half-arsing its anti-gang legislation, adding a significant, pre-planned, BORA-abusing amendment at the committee stage, avoiding all the usual scrutiny processes. But it gets worse. Because having done it once, they're now planning to recall the bill in order to add another such ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Political Round Up

    Note: An earlier version of this article noted Levy was a “party time Health NZ commissioner” - this has been updated - forgive my Freudian slip.Dr Lester Levy is charging $320,000 a year to be a part time Health NZ commissioner. Rachel Thomas reports that Levy is still teaching 2 ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Postcard from Sydney: Southwest and City Metro extension

    This is a guest post from Sydney reader Nik Clement After 2 years in Auckland I moved back to Sydney just over a year ago. While in Auckland, I went to the opening of Puhinui station and used it a fair bit, living in Manukau Central and being able ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    3 days ago
  • Tolling revolt brewing in National heartland

    Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, September 18:Locals gathered in Woodville last night to protest at the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s decision to toll the new road linking the Manawatu and Hawkes Bay, saying ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • The doom spiral

    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In his last post, Zeke discussed incredible warmth of 2023 and 2024 and its implications for future warming. A few readers looked at it and freaked out: This is terrifying and This update really put me in a ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Government directs Te Puni Kōkiri to conduct Māori Language Week in English

    The coalition government has issued a directive to Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, instructing them that – in the interests of clear communication – they are to conduct this year’s Māori Language Week primarily or exclusively in English. The directive is in line with the Government’s policy ...
    The CivilianBy Ben Uffindell
    4 days ago
  • Government celebrates fact that New Zealand’s healthcare is so good people are queuing up for it a...

    At yesterday’s post-cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, flanked by his Health Minister Shane Reti and someone we can’t independently verify was a real sign language interpreter, announced that he had some positive news for the country. “Alright team, I’m just going to hand over to uh, Dr. Shane, ...
    The CivilianBy Ben Uffindell
    4 days ago
  • Heartwarming: Thoughtful driver uses indicator to tell you what they’ve just done

    It’s 4:10pm in the morning, and you’re in the middle lane heading north on the great southern motorway of our nation’s capital, Auckland. There are no cars directly in front of you, but quite a few in the lane to your left. Suddenly, without warning, a black ute enters your ...
    The CivilianBy Ben Uffindell
    4 days ago
  • NPC teams will now be allowed to actually use the Ranfurly Shield in play

    Following decades of controversy, the governing body of New Zealand rugby, New Zealand Rugby, has ruled that the team currently holding the Ranfurly Shield may once again use it in play during the National Provincial Championship (NPC). The ruling restores the utility of a prize that for many years was ...
    The CivilianBy Ben Uffindell
    4 days ago
  • Climbing out of the hamster wheel

    I arrived home with a head full of fresh ideas about mindfulness and curbing impulsive aspects in my character.On the second night home I grabbed a piece of ginger and began swiftly slicing it on our industrial strength mandolin, the one I have learned through painful experience to treat with ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • More Notes From Stinky Town

    Good morning, folks. Another wee note from a chilly Rotorua morning that looks much clearer than yesterday. As I write, the pink glow in the east is slowly growing, and soon, the palest of blue skies should become a bit more royal.A couple of people mentioned yesterday that I should ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Make it make sense: why axe valuable local projects?

    Last week, Matt looked at how the government wants to pour a huge chunk of civic infrastructure funding for a generation  into one mega-road up North, at huge cost and huge opportunity cost. A smaller but no less important feature of the National Land Transport Plan devised by Minister of Transport ...
    Greater AucklandBy Jolisa
    4 days ago
  • Driving blind at higher speeds

    An open letter by experts about plans to raise speed limits warns the “tragic consequence will be more New Zealanders losing their lives or suffering severe injury, along with a substantial burden on the nation's healthcare and rehabilitation services”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 2024’s unusually persistent warmth

    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink My inaugural post on The Climate Brink 18 months ago looked at the year 2024, and found that it was likely to be the warmest year on record on the back of a (than forecast) El Nino event. I suggested “there is a real chance ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • National plan for 2000 more Kiwis a year in prison

    Open for allYesterday, Luxon congratulated his government on a job well done with emergency housing numbers, but advocates have been saying it‘s likely many are on the streets and sleeping in cars.Q&A featured some of the folks this weekend - homeless and in cars. Yes.The government’s also confirmed they stopped ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • I Found a Note in a Tree

    Hi,On most days I try to go on a walk through nature to clear my head from the horrors of life. Because as much as I like people, I also think it’s incredibly important to get very far away from them. To be reminded that there are also birds, lizards, ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Politicians need to lift their game

    Declining trust in New Zealand politicians should be a warning to them to lift their game. Results from the New Zealand Election Study for the 2023 election show that the level of trust in politicians has once again declined. Perhaps it is not surprising that the results, shared as part ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago
  • Police say they won’t respond to bomb threats anymore as ‘it’s never anything’

    Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says that New Zealand’s police force will no longer respond to bomb threats, in an attempt to cut costs and redirect police resources to less boring activities. Coster said that threat response and bomb disposal was a “fairly obvious” area for downsizing, as bomb threats are ...
    The CivilianBy Ben Uffindell
    5 days ago
  • A dysfunctional watchdog

    The reality of any right depends on how well it is enforced. But as The Post points out this morning, our right to official information isn't being enforced very well at all: More than a quarter of complaints about access to official information languish for more than a year, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: The threat of a good example

    Since taking office, the climate-denier National government has gutted agricultural emissions pricing, ended the clean car discount, repealed water quality standards which would have reduced agricultural emissions, gutted the clean car standard, killed the GIDI scheme, and reversed efforts to reduce pollution subsidies in the ETS - basically every significant ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vegas Baby

    Good morning, lovely people. Don’t worry. This isn’t really a newsletter, just a quick note. I’m sitting in our lounge, looking out over a gloomy sky. Although being Rotorua, the view is periodically interrupted by steam bursting from pipes and dispersing—like an Eastern European industrial hellscape during the Cold War.Drinking ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Why Entrust Needs New Leadership

    I am part of a new team running in the Entrust election in October. Entrust is a community electricity trust representing a significant part of Auckland, set up to serve the community. It is governed by five trustees are elected every three years in an election the trust itself oversees. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • London Bridge is falling down

    In the UK, London is the latest of council groups to signal potential bankruptcy.That’s after Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city, went bankrupt in June, resulting in reduced sanitation services, libraries cut, and dimmed streetlights.Some in the city described things as “Dickens” like.Please, Sir, Can I have some more?For families with ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Govt may kick elderly out of hospitals

    The Government is considering how to shunt elderly people out of hospitals, and also how to cut their access to other support. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Getting the nephs off the couch

    The so-called “Prince of the Provinces”, Shane Jones, went home last Friday. Perhaps not quite literally home, more like 20 kilometres down the road from his house on the outskirts of Kerikeri. With its airport, its rapidly growing (mostly retired) population, and a commercial centre with all the big retail ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • De moralibus orcorum: Sargon of Akkad, Rings of Power, Evil, and George R.R. Martin

    I have noted before that The Rings of Power has attracted its unfortunate share of culture war obsessives. Essentially, for a certain type of individual, railing on about the Wokery of Modern Media is a means of making themselves a online livelihood. Clicks and views and advertising revenue, and all ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #37

    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, September 8, 2024 thru Sat, September 14, 2024. Story of the week From time to time we like to make our Story of the Week all about us— and ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • Salvation For Us All

    Yesterday, I ruminated about the effects of being a political follower.And, within politics, David Seymour was smart enough on Friday to divert attention from “race blind” policies [what about gender blind I thought - thinking of maternity wards] and cutting school lunches by throwing meat to the media. Teachers were ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A warm embrace

    Far, far away from here lives our King. Some of his subjects can be quite the forelock tuggers, but plenty of us are not like that, and why don't I wheel out my favourite old story once more about Kiwi soldiers in the North African desert?Field Marshal Montgomery takes offence ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Literal clowns are running the place, we must put a timeout on this stupidity… right Aotearoa?

    These people are inept on every level. They’re inept to the detriment of our internal politics, cohesion and increasingly our international reputation. And they are reveling in the fact they are getting away with it. We cannot even have “respectful debate” with a government that clearly rejects the very ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    7 days ago
  • Fact brief – Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint?

    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does manmade CO2 have any ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago
  • Judge Not.

    Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:1-2FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY men and women professing the Christian faith would appear to have imperilled their immortal souls. ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago
  • Managed Democracy: Letting The People Decide, But Only When They Can Be Relied Upon To Give the Righ...

    Uh-uh! Not So Fast, Citizens! The power to initiate systemic change remains where it has always been in New Zealand’s representative democracy – in Parliament. To order a binding referendum, the House of Representatives must first to be persuaded that, on the question proposed, sharing its decision-making power with the people ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago
  • Looking For Labour’s Vital Signs.

    Flatlining: With no evidence of a genuine policy disruptor at work in Labour’s ranks, New Zealand’s wealthiest citizens can sleep easy.PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN has walked a picket-line. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has threatened “price-gauging” grocery retailers with price control. The Democratic Party’s 2024 platform situates it well to the left of Sir ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago
  • Forty Years Of Remembering To Forget.

    The Beginning of the End: Rogernomics became the short-hand descriptor for all the radical changes that swept away New Zealand’s social-democratic economy and society between 1984 and 1990. In the bitterest of ironies, those changes were introduced by the very same party which had entrenched New Zealand social-democracy 50 years earlier. ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago
  • Kōrero Mai – Speak to Me.

    Good morning all you lovely people. 🙂I woke up this morning, and it felt a bit like the last day of school. You might recall from earlier in the week that I’m heading home to Rotorua to see an old friend who doesn’t have much time. A sad journey, but ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Winning ways

    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed. Street architecture adjustment, KolkataShare Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • 48 seconds on a plan that would reverberate for a million years

    Despite fears that Trump presidency would be disastrous for progress on climate change, the topic barely rated a mention in the Presidential debate. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Using blunt instruments and magical thinking to ignore evidence of harm

    The abrupt cancellations and suspensions of Government spending also caused private sector hiring, spending, and investment to freeze up for the first six months of the year. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThis week we learned:The new National/ACT/NZ First Coalition Government ignored advice from Treasury that it didn’t have to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power Episode 5 (Seaso...

    Another week of The Rings of Power, season two, and another confirmation that things are definitely coming together for the show. The fifth Episode of season one represented the nadir of the series. Now? Amid the firmer footing of 2024, Episode Five represents further a further step towards excellent Tolkien ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • In Open Seas; A Book

    The background to In Open Seas: How the New Zealand Labour Government Went Wrong:2017-2023Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand, published in 2020, proved more successful than either I or the publisher (VUP, now Te Herenga Waka University Press) expected. I had expected that it would ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Sept 13

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest climate science on rising temperatures and the climate implications of the US Presidential elections; and special guests Janet ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Do or do not. There is no try

    1. Upon receiving evidence that school lunches were doing a marvellous job of improving outcomes for students, David Seymour did what?a. Declared we need much more of this sort of good news and poured extra resources and funding into them b. Emailed Atlas network to ask what to do next c. Cut ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Dangerous ground

    The Waitangi Tribunal has reported back on National's proposed changes to gut the Marine and Coastal Area Act and steal the foreshore and seabed for its greedy fishing-industry donors, and declared it to be another huge violation of ti Tiriti: The Waitangi Tribunal has found government changes to the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Climate Change: National wants to cheat on Paris

    In 2016, the then-National government signed the Paris Agreement, committing Aotearoa to a 30 (later 50) percent reduction in emissions by 2030. When questioned about how they intended to meet that target with their complete absence of effective climate policy, they made a lot of noise about how it was ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Treasury warned Govt lower debt limits meant less ‘productivity-enhancing investment’

    Treasury’s advice to Cabinet was that the new Government could actually prudently carry net core Crown debt of up to 50% of GDP. But Luxon and Willis instead chose to portray the Government’s finances as in such a mess they had no choice but to carve 6.5% to 7.5% off ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Tourism on the table for Pacific Ministers’ meet-up

    Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey will meet with Trade and Tourism Minister of Australia Don Farrell and Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica in Rotorua this weekend for a trilateral tourism discussion. “Like in New Zealand, tourism plays a significant role in Australia and Fiji’s economy, contributing massively to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Young people report on family and sexual violence

    The Te Puna Aonui Expert Advisory Group for Children and Young People has presented its report today on improving family and sexual violence outcomes for young people, to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour.  The presentation at the Auckland event was an opportunity for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • $18 million being invested in the victims of crime

    The Government is putting more than $18 million towards improving the experience of the criminal justice system for victims, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Minister for Children Karen Chhour say. “No one should experience crime, but for those who through no fault of their own become victims, they need to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Landmark phonics check in te reo Māori

    For the first time, schools can use a purpose-built tool to check how a child is progressing in reading through te reo Māori. “Around 45 schools are trialling a New Zealand first te reo Māori phonics check, known as Hihira Weteoro. It will help kaiako (teachers) focus on what ākonga ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • New sea walls safeguard Ōpōtiki’s transformation

    Two new breakwater walls at Pākihikura (Ōpōtiki) Harbour will provide boats with safe harbour access to support the continued growth of aquaculture in Bay of Plenty, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones say. The Ministers and leaders from Tē Tāwharau o Te Whakatōhea and other ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kitmap to improve access to science infrastructure

    Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced an online platform to optimise the use of New Zealand’s science and technology research infrastructure and to link the public and private sector. “This country is home to world-class science, technology, and engineering expertise. Kitmap is set to empower Kiwi innovators, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Driving the uptake of low emission heavy vehicles

    The Government has launched the Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund (LEHVF) to promote innovation and offset the cost of hundreds of heavy vehicles powered by clean technologies, Energy Minister Simeon Brown and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts say. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech on replacing the Resource Management Act

    Replacing the RMA Hon Chris Bishop: Good morning, it is great to be with you. Can I first acknowledge the Resource Management Law Association for hosting us here today. Can I also acknowledge my Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Simon Court, who is on stage with me. He has assisted me in establishing the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Replacement for the Resource Management Act takes shape

    Two new laws will be developed to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA), with the enjoyment of property rights as their guiding principle, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Parliamentary Under-Secretary Simon Court say. “The RMA was passed with good intentions in 1991 but has proved a failure in practice. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Tough laws pass to make gang life uncomfortable

    Legislation passed through Parliament today will provide police and the courts with additional tools to crack down on gangs that peddle misery and intimidation throughout New Zealand, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “From November 21, gang insignia will be banned in all public places, courts will be able to issue non-consorting orders, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New levy rates set to ensure continued funding of FENZ

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the rates for the redesigned levy that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) from July 2026.  “Earlier this year FENZ consulted publicly on a 5.2 percent increase to the levy. I was not convinced that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Police allocate Officers to Beat and Gang Units

    The Coalition Government welcomes Police’s announcement today to deploy more police on the beat and staff to Gang Disruption Units.  An additional 70 officers will be allocated to Community Beat Teams across towns and regional centres.  This builds on the deployment of beat officers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch CBDs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Consultation begins on significant updates to the biosecurity system

    Proposals to strengthen the country’s vital biosecurity system, including higher fines for passengers bringing in undeclared high-risk goods, greater flexibility around importing requirements, and fairer cost sharing for biosecurity responses have been released today for public consultation. Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says “The future is about resilience and the 30-year-old ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Wānaka community to benefit from new overnight health service

    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says an Overnight Acute Care Service opening in October will provide people in Wānaka and the surrounding area with the assurance of quality overnight care closer to home.  “When I was in Wānaka earlier this year, I announced funding for an overnight health service – ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Preventing potholes with data-driven technology

    The Government is rolling out data collection vans across the country to better understand the condition of our road network to prevent potholes from forming in the first place, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is a key priority for the Government and increasing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • GDP data shows effect of high interest rates

    Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the quarter to June 2024 reinforces how an extended period of high interest rates has meant tough times for families, businesses, and communities, but recent indications show the economy is starting to bounce back, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ data released today ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • NZ to host first Fiji, Australia trilateral trade Ministers’ meeting in Rotorua

    Trade Minister Todd McClay will host Fijian Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica and Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell for trilateral trade talks in Rotorua this weekend. “Fiji is one of the largest economies in the Pacific and is a respected partner for Australia and New Zealand,” Mr McClay says. Australia and New Zealand ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • NZ hosts Annual CER Trade Ministers’ meeting in Rotorua

    Trade Minister Todd McClay will meet with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting in Rotorua this weekend.  “CER is our most comprehensive agreement covering trade, labour mobility, harmonisation of standards and political cooperation. It underpins an important trading relationship worth $32 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government proposing changes to jury trials

    The Government is seeking the public’s feedback on two major changes to jury trials in order to improve court timeliness, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “The first proposal would increase the offence threshold at which a defendant can decide to have their case heard by a jury. “The second is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Business key to regional economic dialogue

    Local businesses and industries need to be front and centre in conversations about how regions plan to grow their economies, Regional Development Shane Jones says. The nationwide series of summits aims to facilitate conversations about regional economic growth and opportunities to drive productivity, prosperity and resilience through the Coalition Government’s Regional ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • More funding for Growing Up in New Zealand study

    The Government is investing $16.8 million over the next four years to extend the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) Longitudinal Study. GUiNZ is New Zealand’s largest longitudinal study of child health and wellbeing and has followed the lives of more than 6000 children born in 2009 and 2010, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Tough targets for charter schools will raise achievement

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that Charter Schools will face a combination of minimum performance thresholds and stretch targets for achievement, attendance and financial sustainability. “Charter schools will be given greater freedom to respond to diverse student needs in innovative ways, but they will be held to a much ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • NZ votes for Middle East resolution at UN

    New Zealand has voted for a United Nations resolution on Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian Territory with some caveats, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand’s yes vote is fundamentally a signal of our strong support for international law and the need for a two-state solution,” Mr Peters says.    “The Israel-Palestine ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Honouring the legacy of New Zealand’s suffragists

    Suffrage Day is an opportunity to reaffirm New Zealand’s commitment to ensuring we continue to be a world leader in gender equality, Minister for Women Nicola Grigg says. “On 19 September, 131 years ago, New Zealand became the first nation in the world where women gained the right to vote. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Foreign Minister to travel to New York, French Polynesia

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters is travelling to New York next week to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, followed by a visit to French Polynesia. “In the context of the myriad regional and global crises, our engagements in New York will demonstrate New Zealand’s strong support for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Thanking social workers on their national day

    “Today, on Aotearoa New Zealand Social Workers’ Day, I would like to recognise the tremendous effort social workers make not just today, but every day,” Children’s Minister and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour says. “I thank all those working on the front line for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Minister of State for Trade heads to Laos for ASEAN meetings

    Minister of State for Trade Nicola Grigg will travel to Laos this week to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane.   “The Government is committed to strengthening our relationship with ASEAN,” Ms Grigg says. “With next year marking 50 years since New Zealand became ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Members appointed to retail crime MAG

    The Government has appointed four members to the Ministerial Advisory Group for victims of retail crime, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “I am delighted to appoint Michael Hill’s national retail manager Michael Bell to the group, as well as Waikato community advocate and business ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Speech to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation AGM and Conference 2024

    It’s my pleasure to be here to join the opening of the NZNO AGM and Conference for 2024.  First, I’d like to thank NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku, NZNO President, Anne Daniels, and Chief Execuitve Paul Gaulter for inviting me to speak today.  Thank you also to all the NZNO members ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Improvements for New Zealand authors

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says changes to the Public Lending Right [PLR] scheme will help benefit both the National Library and authors who have books available in New Zealand libraries. “I am amending the regulations so that eligible authors will no longer have to reapply every year ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister commends Police for gang operation

    Police Minister Mark Mitchell congratulates Police for the outstanding result of their most recent operation, targeting the Comancheros. “That Police have been able to round up the majority of the Comancheros leadership, and many of their patched members and prospects, shows not only the capability of Police, but also shows ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • New appointments to the EPA board

    Environment Minister Penny Simmonds has announced a major refresh of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) board with four new appointments and one reappointment.   The new board members are Barry O’Neil, Jennifer Scoular, Alison Stewart and Nancy Tuaine, who have been appointed for a three-year term ending in August 2027.  “I would ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Enabling rural recovery works in Hawke’s Bay

    Cabinet has approved an Order in Council to enable severe weather recovery works to continue in the Hawke’s Bay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell say. “Cyclone Gabrielle and the other severe weather events in early 2023 caused significant loss and damage to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • FamilyBoost childcare payment registrations open

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