I thought it mighty clever of the weather to turn to Winter overnight. Sitting pretty here in a house of brick. It wasn't always so easy.
Let's hear it for a budget tackling homelessness, let's hear it for a government trying to address mental health.
Sleep.
I spent parts of winter sleeping half at night, half in the day. This was in order to cope with the cold. From cars to windowless squats, beneath bridges and basements abandoned; the houses of homelessness are cold.
To sleep it helped to be inebriated so one's body (and head) would allow you some sleep. I'd curl up in a foetal position with covers over my head to recirculate the warm air, and hands tucked between my legs to try get them warm. It was enough for a while and I'd drift off, but by around 4 a.m. either my reserves or the temperature had dropped sufficiently that it woke me.
There were several hours till dawn and though many preferred to stay down, shivering as temperatures bottomed out, I had to move.
Morning calisthenics. 4 a.m. drills for the idle unemployed. Press ups, squats, burpees. Soon I'd be warm enough to stop shivering, warm enough that the ringing in my ears would subside, warm enough to roll a smoke without tearing the paper in half. The burning coal of a cigarette cupped in the palms of my hands.
I'd march. Off to the parks, to the coast and the dunes. Under lupins and round the river mouths. In the places fungi grew in abundance. Magical fungi, munchable fungi. From the city to the fields and back again.
We ate fungi, watercress, seafood, rustled sheep, pilfered fruit, garden raids, dumpster diving and homeless handouts. We never thought about how we were homeless, we were surviving. Mental health, abuse, alcoholism, addiction, abandonment. It was all there, and it was all intertwined. We absolved ourselves with three Fuck You's and a bottle of grog.
A portion of us were typically in prison. This was normal. Some were locked up for stealing liquor, others robbing chemists; I for picking mushrooms and growing weed. Whatever it takes means different things to different people, and survival trumped law in most cases. As society had done to us the things that were done to us, then fuck society. We would look after ourselves.
We were divided in attitudes between those of us who wanted to change the world, and those who wanted to burn it all down. There's too much time to think when you are homeless. To feel purpose it helps if one can move purposefully. To live amongst the hopeless it requires a special kind of strength to even dare to dream. We were young and we still dared, but for many it was a dream.
Overdose, car accident, murder, life. Slowly they vanished as if they'd never existed. Long forgotten by those purported to love them. Dead.
The eulogies I wrote were prosaic and deep. It was tragedy and tragedy then tragedy again. Absentee parents wailed soulfully upon the caskets of those they held dear. Too little and too late they'd turn up in their cars. Countenance grave; soft words finally spoken.
Thanks for sharing that. Such insights into our collective reality are essential, and a helpful antidote to the economic/political spin around the budget, reminding us what it's all about really. And resilience contains emotional intelligence as a social necessity…
Same as Dennis and HS; you've hinted at this before so it's not a surprise. But I am moved by the intensity of it. And not only have you journeyed through that dark, damp land … but you found the path out of it.
I for one await more of the story, if and when it's time to tell it.
I echo all of the sentiments by the rest on here WTB. A wonderful piece, and thank you for sharing. There are a few favourite places here in our town for some to find a bit of shelter. A convenient nook in an alleyway just off the main street makes an ideal spot. It's covered over and reasonably secluded, but it would be a bugger in a westerly! Behind the church is good too and just over the road from the pub. It's also sheltered from the wind and has soft grass. We have around 15 to 20 sleeping really rough here, and are about to get expanded accommodation for those nights when it really is too bad to be unsheltered.
WOW! A brilliant piece of writing WTB (1) … I'd like to say it was a great story. However, the story you told wasn't/isn't so great for far too many Kiwis.
Thanks for taking the time to share such a raw, gritty expose` of homelessness in NZ, through personal experience.
Lived experience speaks with an authentic voice. Thank you WTB for sharing, for keeping your sense of hope and for recognising the efforts made to change the way budgets are formed. May you enjoy your brick house and the winter warmth your home offers you for the rest of your days. Please write more.
"In Portugal and Spain, the incumbent governments of the centre-left were rewarded by voters. In Spain, voters rejected the far right populist party Vox, which collapsed back to 6% from the 10% high it achieved only a fortnight ago in the Spanish general elections."
"On the radical left, Podemos saw its support decline to 10%, a sharp fall from the 18% they’d scored in the last European Parliament elections. The decline of Podemos holds a cautionary message for the Green Party in New Zealand. Now that Podemos is no longer an outsider party but is actively propping up the Socialist government of Pedro Sanchez, much of its support has been bleeding back to Sanchez and his PSOE party, which has long been Spain’s neo-liberal Third Way party of the centre-left. In a further blow, radical left mayors in major cities (including the high profile administration of Ada Colau in Barcelona) lost their fights for re-election. In Spain as whole, the radical left is being marginalised by regional parties, and by the Establishment left."
As a life-long radical, I've always found the radical left amusing. I share their striving to attain an ideal world, while remaining baffled at their reluctance to learn from political experience. It makes no sense for the Greens to marginalise themselves on the extreme left. Too few voters support such idiocy.
Usually radical leftists reject centrism in favour of ideological purity. They refuse to admit that support for the underdog is more politically potent when it comes from a party that controls the political centre and selects governments. As Winston has proven. The GP needs leaders who are capable of learning the lesson.
Nuance. I made no blanket statement re the Greens, just advised against any leftist extremism. There's a ginger group (mainly idealistic youngsters) within the party which formed several years ago to lobby for such positioning. I've seen their spokespeople being explicit in calling for that partisan stance and alignment at our conferences. They are open, honest, and forthright in doing so.
Add to that is the unending nauseating way media professionals keep depicting the Greens as `to the left of Labour'. Hardly surprising that a popular view of the Greens being wild-eyed radicals has gained currency. Hopelessly unrealistic…
You fail to point out that since the emergence of centrist liberalisim as the dominating force in western left wing politics from the late 1970's, what was once just left is now framed as extreme or radical left.
The reason cenerism should and is being rejected is because it has failed to work, or work for the many and not just the few..or haven't you noticed.
Go and read WeTheBleeple’s piece at the beginning of today’s open mike, and think about the homeless families living in cars all over NZ, all the working poor in NZ who spend over half their wages on rent, that is free market centerism in action for you.
Green suit-wearers will be careerists, of course, but doesn't mean inability to grasp the big picture. Here we have the Values schism to teach us that the centrists are essential to the political success of the Green left (if they were able to learn the lesson) whereas in Germany the thirty years war between fundies & realos seems to have been resolved.
"A surge of support, helped by the Fridays for Future protest movement, propelled Germany's Greens to second place in Sunday's European Parliament elections, at the expense of the mainstream parties. Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU/CSU bloc and their ailing junior coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD) both suffered historic losses after being caught flat-footed on environmental policy."
The thing with all of this thinking, within multiple contexts/systems:
The edge is where the action occurs. New ideas, new genes, new philosophies.
The center is where most of the energy resides, but this is mostly used to maintain the status quo, broken or not. There is an illusion in the center, being the 'holders of power', that everything held in check belongs to the center and is of the center's doing.
But it came from an edge. The refusal to listen to the fringe is everyone's limitation.
I understand your position in trying to help more fringe lefties gain some ideas for relative longevity and a platform for their positions: but the center swallows the edge, it's very nature being conformity to the center.
Much better that we allow fringe political players to be their own entities (within reason and civility) as a think-tank for the center – as it has always been, but let's be honest about who's doing all the thinking.
The people with real problems to solve – or the well to do?
…who's doing all the thinking. The people with real problems to solve – or the well to do?
I don't find thinking and questioning and willingness to consider other less-materially-successful peoples viewpoint among the well to do. Not as a rule.
You have to step aside and view things objectively, wonder about how it is for others, listen to their tales and then wonder about what led them there. The amount of wondering that people do, of the different ways that people react to the same events and treatment, all helps to get a depth to relating to others. Most well to do are too busy managing their resources, and choosing ways to observe things or do things important to their group to sit and wonder.
Running in marathons is a perfect example. A totally unimportant activity, a personal challenge to skite about, and very much about self and proving yourself not lazy and meeting some herd convention. Why don't people raise to merit the groups going out to cut down old mans beard suffocating forest for instance. That requires all the fitness put into a marathon; that would be the wondering herd in action, not the stampeding herd off on some psychological desire to prove themselves as good as the old pioneers.
"Running marathons is a perfect example" greywarshark, the same idiocy is involved in climbing the same mountain 10 times.
Feck, the airfares the costs and the energy could have built several tiny homes.
Climbers are held up to us as heroes. Edmund Hillary was, because he followed up with meaningful humanitarian efforts. Now it is a mighty money churn and less than edifying.
Many who are well off do not see their wealth, because they "Don't have a ……." (put a toy in there).
The edge is where the action occurs. New ideas, new genes, new philosophies.
Agreed. But keep in mind that only a small fraction of new ideas turn out to be good ideas. Radicals always risk going too far in their search.
The center is where most of the energy resides, but this is mostly used to maintain the status quo, broken or not.
Again agreed, yet keep in mind that while the status quo is always flawed and imperfect, we still depend on it for our daily survival. Yet as you say when it refuses to listen, the centre stagnates and becomes tyrannical.
The edge is represents the new, the unknown and the unstable, while the centre is the opposite. While both domains have their natural inhabitants, they also both need each other. They need to trade.
When you're mixing ingredients preparing to cook something, you keep adding and blending, repeating that till the mix is in right proportions needed for a good outcome. We need better chefs, cooks and kitchen hands following better practices if we want to lift our standards and then share out the buns fairly. That way we wouldn't get egg on our own faces or want to decorate the faces of supposed smart leaders.
Difference between a chef and a cook is a chef knows how to shop better. Asians by far have a far superior cultural tradition of low end deliciousness because across the Asian continent food has been far more democratised than in the west. In Asia cooks don't have to make difficult choices because the produce is so cheap to source and buy. In Asia it is possible to pick up a delicious hot sit down meal for 50 cents served to your table. In the west the well housed and well fed have a far greater cultural tradition of deciding who gets to eat and who doesn't.
In the 80's jokes was the currency of the work place smoko room. In the 90's not so much and in the naughties the lunch room turned into a sour affair as work breaks became less and less and productivity up and up. No one has the instincts to tell a joke any more. The people that make up The Labour Party flow in and out of ministerial offices, they are no longer selected from the people who know something about society so Labour lacks those democtratic instincts and must rely on committee groups to come up with ideas and working groups to hold there hands as they run the country.
Even though Labour are after higher wages and higher health they recognise the injustice of what Māori went through because they still have a beating heart. That kind of Labour Party will serve New Zealand particularly well. If MPs can teach themselves the big things then they'll have the instincts to know how things are run and then those smarties won't need pollsters. Although we can't whined the economy back to the 80's we've got a changing industrial relationship and every one doesn't wear the old high school knock around shoes anymore. We do have a different economy today. The same instincts are around and we've got to have more of that in The Labour Party and we've missed doing that in the last 15-20 years.
Yes, I fully agree with your reasoning & analysis. I'm still on the edge, in respect of investigating new thinking continuously, but I plonked one foot in the establishment at the start of '75, to have a career, and ended up straddling both realms, uneasily.
I've always found most Greens too mainstream in their thinking, for instance. Yet to get consensus, I had to work constructively with them. Overcoming my natural distaste for compromising essential principles was always hard, yet the sustained effort got us into parliament, and the compromises our reps in parliament have had to make are similar to mine in those respects.
So nowadays I advocate a consensus praxis to overcome partisan divides, and am pleased that we finally have a government actually doing that. Still, we must keep pushing for more innovative thinking around governance. The world needs that, not just us here in Aotearoa!
The launch this week of the book Whale Oil understandably put Cameron Slater and his dirty blogging at the centre of attention. But he has been in some cases paid and aided, abetted and used by a number of accomplices.
Someone who has been closely associated with Slater in his sustained attacks on Matt Blomfield is an ex-business associate of Blomfield’s, Marc Spring. If anything he has done more for longer than Slater.
One way Spring has kept attacks going against Blomfield) is his use of many identities in his online activities.
How many identities? That’s hard to quantify, but it’s many. my guess is well over a hundred identities, if not many more.
I identified over 40 in an eight month period on just one blog.
There have probably been some here.
Use of multiple pseudonyms is deceptive, and is bad for the many people who legitimately and reasonably use a pseudonym, as id discredits the use of pseudonyms generally.
That is very informative and insightful pete george. Thank you. We do have to keep watch for the evil people that are round, sort of have sensitive traps in our minds that register particular types of thought and action; a bit like traps for insects and predators that can be so deadly for our food sources.
Having seen of some of his antics over the years your description sounds pretty right. You could have used the word 'multiple' in front of obsessive.
It's interesting describing the behaviour and the personality in proper scientific, psychological terms. The easiest thing would be to say things like 'dirty, lowdown, scumbag piece of shit."
Here are Marc Spring identities that have been used on various blogs and media comments forums.
ThreeMonkeys
SHAFT
The Ape
NOT MIKE
4077th
Gweg pwesland
pimp
phillip
DaveG
slicedcheesesandwich
Justice4Matt
BLOMFIELDS EX BIZ PARTNER
Harry ‘Gold Star’ Stottle
Harry Stottle
to HELL in a handbasket
The Assasin
David Jessop
CHEEKY DARKY
the MONKEYS RAINCOAT
Elton
Samantha Hays
The Barber
They Walk, they talk, they harm
THE PRIEST
Hannibal Lecters Psychologist
Inspector Clouseau
Rod
I HAVE THE HARD DRIVE
MARC NEVER FORGETS CUNT
I AM OWED TOO
THE WORST NIGHTMARE
When dies Bankrupt = Businessman
Jean
Bus Driver
LORD DONKEY
Harvey Specter
TYRANT/THE TYRANT
HUSTLER
BUCK WIT
Shagger
Gimp of Greenhithe
Spiderman wants his mask back
RAMBONE OF RAMBONIA
Reaper Crew
Gay Mo
Rolf Harris
Bill Brown
Reaper Crew
The last one is one of I believe a number he has used at LF.
Isn’t that one of those psychological word-association tests to unearth deep psychological trauma, damaged or stalled identity development, and psychopathic tendencies?
I suppose this has already been noted here. Amy Adams of National accusing Labour Coalition of playing 'petty politics' in changes to the convention of the pre-Budget practices. WTF when Simon B does it, it is okay – he is just testing the government by breaking reasonable agreements.
I should think that Labour Coalition was actually trying to prevent National doing more of their petty measures and turning what was a serious financial presentation into a Punch and Judy show.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1905/S00287/government-playing-petty-politics-with-budget-day-process.htm
National’s Finance spokesperson Amy Adams says. 29 May 2019 “While media and other parties are given three and a half hours to examine the Government’s accounts before they are released, National is only allowed 60 minutes. Because of this we need a wide range of subject matter experts to review their areas. Last year we had 16 of our team present and to have this arbitrarily halved this year is unreasonable and petty, particularly when we are told this year’s Budget will look very different to previous years.
Ah but that can be played out as part of a Conspiracy against National.
And perhaps the room was further from the toilets – another form of harassment. Gnats are really sick in the mind, and it says something too about the people who keep voting them in, keep supporting them, keep listening to the diatribe from the bellicose broadcasters providing them with a comforting blanket of words for the day that the Right Crowd can repeat to prevent any uncomfortable thoughts from filtering through the Matrix.
I notice a lot of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’ is pertinent. If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
And even that wording can be bent and used against you by the RW and some from the Left as well. And that is dealt with in those lines also. A meaningful poem. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if—
Fascinating in-depth documentary on the influence of cannabis in the Bible. It seems the word cannabis was Scythian in origin and it was they who traded and spread it throughout Eurasia. The Greeks called it by the same name while the Jews called it Kaneh Bosm, each culture giving the plant a variation of the Scythian name. Like others, the Jews valued its ability to get high (restricted to the high priests, prophets and kings), nutritional value and use for hemp clothing.
Thanks for this john. I've been following this sad development and watching the entire fiasco unravel on every front. I used some strong language a few days back, and the light of this I don't resile from it one jot.
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
I think what could help Assange is if someone from the RW speaks up who has perceptions of being decent and also concerned about USA keeping an appearance of having standards of behaviour that bear scrutiny. That person would suggest that it is a bad idea to not enable Assange's health so he can stand trial and not in the USA's best interests to allow Assange to fall seriously ill or worse.
The USA must try to keep its image alive of being a fair nation that behaves in a superior way to others and acts to keep the Peace in the World. So – something should be said and acted on in this manner and the UK can encourage that and show they have blood in their veins.
This?
'Though USA is very unhappy about the revelations of secrets that WikiLeaks supplied, it does not wish to harm the individual responsible as other lesser civilised countries would do. And so it is transferring Assange (to Australia, to a facility where he can recover his strength with wellbeing) until he is ready to face trial.'
That sort of thing. The USA won't have a high horse to look down from if they don't make an effort to repair their fraying image.
“They made him very ill by refusing him ANY access to life sustaining fresh air, exercise, sun/VitD or proper medical care for 6 YEARS of illegal Embassy detention
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, wrote that "Julian's case is of major historic significance. It will be remembered as the worst attack on press freedom in our lifetime. The People need to voice their condemnation; it is their politicians, their courts, their police and their prisons that are being abused in order to leave this black stain on history. Please act now to avert this shame".
Unfortunately the mass campaign to vilify Assange has done its work.
Even on this supposedly progressive site, the attack lines are relentlessly repeated
"Melzer went on:
“In the course of the past nine years, Mr. Assange has been exposed to persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging from systematic judicial persecution and arbitrary confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy, to his oppressive isolation, harassment and surveillance inside the embassy, and from deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation, to open instigation of violence and even repeated calls for his assassination.”
Trigger alert : sensitive souls may note this comes from Consortium News and includes information that may be contrary to dearly held beliefs
I looked at the letter writing to Assange at Belsem? Prison campaign, it advises to put in a plain sheet of paper and self addressed envelope with UK stamps for reply – of course he woud need a pen or pencil. I have not been able to find NZPost information about how to deal with pre-paid mail in other country's currency. At present I have a question placed yesterday about this but have received no email reply.
I asked about stamps or an international coupon which I imagine there should be available but who knows it seems to me that NZ Post is just managing down the business. If I could buy a pre-paid envelope rather than stamps – that would be practical. I thought they might have replied by now.
…deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation… We have seen that on this site frequently and from people who one would expect to have been on the side of exposing the secrets of powerful people and countries willing to destroy others for their purposes.
For good people to do nothing…. Have I got time to be good, what with all the other things I give my time to, as well as my own living tasks for me, my family, friends and community? These sort of unworthy thoughts about my lack of action are I think echoed by quite a number.
We should be out in the streets for Assange, but the attention now is on climate change and receiving a living wage for those who are trying to hold society together and retain the advances that were gained by exhaustive social interaction last century.
Got to keep trying to do it all or the golden bulldozer driven by a robot with such a cheeky, lovable grin in such a cute hat, will scoop us all up. Ever looked at the photos of naked bodies being thrown into burial pits in Holocaust archives? That sort of thing has happened multiple times in even near history. Those images should be in everyone's minds; the reality of what we can do when we have our mind setting on the mark of Cold, Hard, Unfeeling, Uncaring, Unrespecting, Unloving, and Choose your level of Evil – Eager, Sometimes, Neutral, Not sure, Wrestling against it every day.
I'm sorry – I do go on. I understand if its tl:dr. But laying it out occasionally, how someone is feeling I think helps to understand what's going on in society for some people.
The problem is that life presently is so depressing – the constant flow of viciousness, unfairness, violence and the imbalance with meanness high and easy generosity so low; how to create a bright spot, some hope, some comfort takes mental energy, even requires mental exercises. And under austerity with a religious wash, joy is not allowed, unless it is preachy Joy in the Lord.
I am sure the Great Spirit-Creator would be satisfied to see us being just great humans showing respect and receiving it in return; trying to get on together and building a feeling of solidarity and strength to face off the nastiness. That's hard even when the basics of life are under control. I see this blog as a living personification? of what those here with goodwill are reaching for. That's why I get upset at repeat vicious put-downs and faux concerns that have a thorn in them. I can stand argy bargy from those who are trying like me to establish a buzzy beehive of ideas and co-operation to make up for the failings of the one in Wellington at present. I don't think though we will ever see a united group of all parties working for the good of NZ in Wellington. So I see it as important to keep talking about good things, and then doing something so that I don't end up feeling helpless and life a wet noodle. So will soon shut up and go and do something useful for me and have done something else already this morning so that's a tick for me.
We have to keep our eye on civility, honesty, kindness and practicality as these are needed in relationships all round the world. In NZ too many have been vaccinated with poisonous ideas, some sanctimonious, many adopting misanthropy and so finding it exciting to embrace robots (and possibly one day literally as well as figuratively).
On the contrary. I'd wager that every argument you've made this past 8 years that Assange's problems are 'self inflicted' is authoritatively debunked here:
Given that he starts with the "no charges" bullshit that is a mi-statement of the "no proceedings" argument that the british courts threw out of his original extradition hearings, that's a bold wager.
One of the hounds that pollute this site has unloaded another of his complacent, vicious, obscenity-larded tirades. The following captures his motivation just about perfectly…..
Abstaining from the witchhunt would have classed the dissenter as an enemy. Stalin was supported by fanatics, cynics, sadists and moral cowards.
—-Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him (Viking, 2004)
yeah the only reason I said anything was because it was just a matter of time before some self-important jerk wrote that people who have the unmitigated gall to suggest that people to be extradited for sexual assault proceedings shouldn't jump bail are "strangely silent".
So no, it changes nothing. He chose to abscond, that's his choice, he wears the consequences. If you're going to do that, copy Biggs or Papillon instead.
Ignoring the role Julian Assange has played in exposing America's misdeeds for some fantasy that Julian committed sexual assault probably has more evidence than the evidence against Julian Assange.
So you are still in denial about the bogus charges against Assange. We've got the rise in denial of routine law. A rise in denial about science, a rise in religious denial, and I'm talking about you, McFlock (lol) the amount of denial. The greater the denial> the greater the darkness.
You think the sexual assault investigation is bogus? Is that because you have any connection to the case, or just because google and confirmation bias have an unhealthy relationship in your mind?
It's because you excel at pointing at flaws in Julian Assanges arguments and are very quiet and deceptive about the flaws in the prosecutions arguments.
You are still only telling half of the truth. Consent laws was brought into Sweden so to charge adults with raping minors, not adults raping adults. If consent laws was punished as you would prescribe, McFlock 🙂 then the legal age of consent would be 30 or how ever old the victims you allege was raped by Julian Assange. That's it.
Because if your scenario has anything at all to do with Assange, my previous answer is sufficient. Otherwise there was no relevance to your comment at all and I incorrectly inferred the opposite.
In that case of course woman can say no condom no sex. What is unacceptable is a law intended for protecting minors against sex with out a condom because under Swedish law there had to be signs of physical harm, is then used to prosecute a crime from 7 years ago. And the definitions don't even fit current law.
You'd have to at least prove that your hypothetical occurred after the 2018 consent law changes. The rape allegations have already been thrown out of EU court once, woke lefties are just pleaing for them to be thrown out of a Swedish court a secound time.
I love Mezler's response to Jeremy Hunt's assertion that Assange had always been free to leave the Embassy.
After finding that Julian Assange displayed symptoms of “prolonged psychological torture,” UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer has traded barbs with the UK’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt over the WikiLeaks founder’s persecution.
This is wrong. Assange chose to hide in the embassy and was always free to leave and face justice. The UN Special Rapporteur should allow British courts to make their judgements without his interference or inflammatory accusations.
“The UN Special Rapporteur should allow British courts to make their judgments without his interference or inflammatory accusations,” Hunt added.
Melzer quickly fired back in a rather creative fashion, saying: “With all due respect, Sir: Mr Assange was about as ‘free to leave’ as someone sitting on a rubber boat in a sharkpool.” He also reiterated comments that the British justice system had failed to show the “impartiality and objectivity required by the rule of law.”
I'm equally sure that people here will still think his work with wikileaks should give him a free pass, even if they accept the verdict, if he's found guilty.
The charges are fantasy charges. The women with whom he had consensual sex were inveigled and bullied into this obscene travesty by the Swedish prosecutor, who was herself under duress from U.S. "diplomats."
If there were any credible charges against him, that would be another matter entirely. Your abuse of those who support this political dissenter and journalist is invalid.
Political asylum is a thing McFlock.Its not granted to avoid being charged with a crime.Unless there is strong suspicion the charges are politically motivated
They were criminals. Assange is a journalist, an exposer of and dissenter from official lies. Which makes him, of course, an extreme threat and a target for destruction.
He's a guy who jumped bail to avoid extradition to face allegations of criminal activity. Any journalism he might also have undertaken is irrelevant to that.
A bullshit argument that omits the crucial context. It's like blaming someone for breaking their leg jumping out of a third floor window and not mentioning the building was on fire.
Well, not mentioning that he claimed the building was on fire after the home-owners arrived home early and there were questions about whether he was legally permitted to be inside the room from which he jumped. Oh, and that so far the only fire discovered is in the fireplace, well-contained according to fire code standards.
By ambiguity I mean the woke have called Assage a rapist so such with out a conviction of rape that it's prejudiced any trail he may have. It's impossible for Assange to receive a fair trial now.
A bullshit argument that omits the crucial context.
I didn't mention the specific allegations or their context, but they're not exactly crucial to the point that he's a guy who jumped bail to avoid extradition to face allegations of criminal activity. Whatever claims Assange or anyone else has about the allegations being part of a dastardly if somewhat illogical conspiracy, they're just claims, and evidence-free ones at that.
Whatever claims Assange or anyone else has about the allegations being part of a dastardly if somewhat illogical conspiracy, they're just claims, and evidence-free ones at that.
So now you are claiming the Americans are only pretending to be making an extradition case against him?
The alleged conspiracy is that the Swedish extradition request was part of a plot to extradite Assange to the US. There's no evidence of such a plot, and it would have been a pointless plot anyway, as the US could have just requested his extradition from the UK – as it's now done.
Adrian, if you encountered someone so disgusting on the street, you'd probably ignore him. Don't expect a thoughtful or serious answer to your question.
Yes I know, but it can be amusing to try and follow their mental gymnastics in their convoluted answers sometimes, I guess I am saying they can some times be good for a cheap laugh….only if you are in the mood that is, otherwise they are just annoying and distasteful.
Kamenev and Smirnov walked to the execution chamber stoically. But Zinoviev clung to the boots of his guards and was taken down by stretcher. This was re-enacted several times at supper in Stalin’s dacha, the bodyguard Karl Pauker playing the part of Zinoviev—begging for Stalin to be fetched and then crying out “Hear, o Israel”—until even Stalin found the charade distasteful.
— Donald Rayfield Stalin and His Hangmen (Viking, 2004) page 270
Russian versions of McFlock, meanwhile, tut-tutted and said "Zinoviev inflicted it on himself."
Mprrissey better not to make the argument more distressing. This goes direct to a sensitive nerve of McFlock's and coughing up Stalin who was a mega maniac with a matching power complex is not helpful in the situation. Just disagree will you and not feed the fire. It upsets me my friend.
The point of comparison is the behaviour of Stalin’s henchmen. McFlock and several others on this forum are analogues of Karl Pauker, Lavrenty Beria and the other ghouls who delighted in the suffering of officially designated enemies.
Except that adding in "Russian versions of McFlock, meanwhile […]" shows that there is no "analogue" of me in the actual quote.
I get that you were trying to be a dick and compare Assange's self-chosen Ecuadorean Escapade with the deaths of twenty-odd million people in a totalitarian state run by a tyrant, but the English language (like the rest of reality) didn't quite fit your narrative.
Assange might have chosen most of his "Ecuadorean Escapade", but I doubt that he chose the ending, let alone subsequent events – these were imposed, and perhaps more difficult to foresee than the consequences of having "jumped off the bridge".
How the fuck did he think it was going to finish? Do cops stop chasing robbers once they reach "safe", all is forgiven? Would he get into a literal "diplomatic bag" and be put on a slow boat to Ecuador?
He had literal months to figure out his absconding plan, and that's what he came up with? No helicopter out to an Ecuadorian freighter 20 miles off shore? No yacht trip? No disguise, false identity, or escape tunnel from the embassy? No, let's take a car ride into the middle of London and stay there.
As well as repeatedly firing the word “rape” around, despite its complete inappropriateness, this tick "McFlock" keeps trying to associate a journalist and political dissident with robbers—yesterday he used the examples of Ronald Biggs and Papillon, for pity's sake.
I guess when you've chosen your line, no matter how wrongheaded and demonstrably false it is, you're committed to it. George W. Bush was like that. And his deputy Tony Bliar. And “Honest John” Howard.
Nah … rape is the bogus charge that was cooked up for political purposes. Every sane reading of the events around his association with the two Swedish women, both before and after, and during the initial interviews … absolutely do not suggest coercion or assault. The first investigator concluded 'no crime of any kind'.
It was only after he left Sweden that someone had the bright idea that what happened could be twisted into this disgusting charade.
Any sane reading suggests that the facts as reported indicate he was at the very least reckless as to whether either of his partners were consenting to him not using a condom.
But you know that's all bogus, so fucking yay, I guess courts are unnecessary, with such omniscient beings amongst us.
It's my impression the vast majority of people, including me, who support Assange have always said that ideally the allegations should be tested in Court.
But everything about this case tells us nothing is ideal, nothing is normal about how this case has been laid and prosecuted. If this was really about Assange's 'recklessness' … and nothing else … he would have done exactly what he said he has stated all along, and traveled back to Sweden to clear his name at Court.
And Steve Jobs should have gone for recognised medical treatments sooner.
People react oddly to things, and in different ways. Sometimes it's panic, or ego, or denial/avoidance. Sometimes people say stuff for so long that they end up believing their own hype.
Could be any of those, could be that a mole in the FBI/CIA secretly emailed him the full outline of a plot to use these allegations to gitmo him, and he panicked and ran to the embassy. Or maybe that was the plan – send him an invented plot so he does something stupid like jumping bail.
Bullshit. For years you've been deflecting from the obvious, that the USA would use any opportunity to extradite him if possible. Assange could not know in advance exactly how, but he had every good reason to suspect that these 'rape' allegations were bogus and a ploy to get him into a legal jurisdiction more amenable to American pressure.
For years you pretended this was just a paranoid fabrication to avoid facing trial in Sweden … yet now the Americans have indeed played their hand openly and you have been proven factually wrong.
For years I've been saying that if he genuinely believed it was all a US plot, why flee from Sweden into the jurisdiction of America's closest ally?
And yes, they showed their hand – in UK courts.
And it's one thing to pretend Sweden is more "amenable" to extradtition to the US than the UK (which is an arguable point full of opinions and maybes), it's another thing entirely to say the Swedes are "amenable" to fabricating rape proceedings in order to be in a position to extradite to the US.
And if it's a genuine sex crime investigation, then he needs to face it.
look at the ones where the asylum seekers were seeking asylum from the country the embassy was in.
The happy endings lower drastically in proportion.
And that's if you call the Mariel Boatlift a happy ending.
Not sure the Cardinal’s experience was too happy, either. Got there in the end, but after how long? He must have not had a cat.
Your “cat” reference lends credence to Brigid’s comment @8.3.2.
Your ‘but’ negated your previous word and displayed your faux concern.
Enough with your disingenuous utterances.
The linked page lists seven examples where "asylum seekers were seeking asylum from the country the embassy was in." All the asylum seekers apparently got what they asked for, some sooner than others. You believe this applies to Assange – lol, “sad“.
2012: "He left after six days, and subsequently was allowed to go to New York with his wife and two children."
1989: "Noriega surrendered 10 days later after being assured he would not face the death penalty in the United States." A one-time useful ally of the US.
1989: "They lived in the embassy for 13 months before being allowed to go to the United States."
1986: Howard 'escaped' to Russia via their Finnish embassy.
1980: From the information given, it seems likely that the six Cubans granted asylum in Peru's Havana embassy 'got out'.
1966: "She returned to the Soviet Union in 1984, saying she wanted to reunite with her family. Her Soviet citizenship was restored but she left a year later to go back to the U.S. following a family feud."
1956: "lived in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest from 1956 until 1971, when he was allowed to leave for Vienna." The only example in that list of an asylum that lasted (much) longer than Assange's. The US honoured that request for asylum until he was allow to leave.
I think you need to look up Noriega, and what happened to him, and relations with the US before they invaded Panama.
Howard ditched his tail in the US and went to Helsinki, where he claimed asylum in the Soviet Embassy there. He didn't go from the Soviets' Washington embassy. The Finns didn't want him, the yanks did. Similarly, Stalin went to the US embassy in New Delhi. The Indians didn't want here, the Soviets did.
Cuba was happy to get rid of them, and everyone else. And some occupants of its jail cells and mental asylums. Mariel Boatlift.
And the US had skin in the game to protect the Cardinal. He was a PR bonus. He could easily have been abandoned if the chips had fallen the other way.
Assange was fleeing the UK, so went to the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK.
I.e. the location of the embassy and the country being fled were the same country.
That applies to the two Chinese instances (diplomatic horse-trading likely involved), the Cardinal (same), and the Cubans (which Cuba used to clear the country of dissidents and prisoners).
You cited those seven examples in response to my question:
Once granted, how do cases of asylum typically end?Sadly?
In those seven examples, no asylum seeker was forcibly removed from the embassy that granted asylum. Only Noriega was subsequently incarcerated, after extracting a guarantee and surrendering voluntarily.
If those historical cases are anything to go by then it seems to me that the way Assange's ayslum ended, and his subsequent treatment, are atypical – I'm happy for readers to draw their own conclusions.
Like, outside my work, there's a pigeon that got hit by a car in the street and is now a flat streak of feathery grease. I'm not cut up about it or anything, but as I drive over it there is a sombre reflection on all that we are and become. There's no glee that a disease-encrusted rat of the sky is no more. It was a thing, and now it is a dead thing.
That sort of level of sad, I guess. Where you do that sort of inward "tch" sound, maybe slightly shake your head, and then get on with your day.
"Treasury hacking: The time I hacked WINZ – Keith Ng."
Remember the fuss when Keith discovered the "hole" in WINZ? He did the right thing by informing WINZ about the "hole." Bridges didn't did he?
Imagine if you only saw the last part of the process. Imagine you didn't see the first 200,000 times where the security system blocked access, and you just saw the 200,001st attempt. You would simply see the hacker walk in and succeed at accessing the information. You might think there was no security at all.
ANZ New Zealand tries to fob it off as a minor error that occurred. Maybe they can find an ‘emotional junior staffer’ to take the blame. It most certainly wasn’t the Board.
The point is made that this is a fundamental issue of incompetence:
"In my view … this failure indicates that the board was/is not competent and also raises serious questions about the bank's management and reinforces my concern with the competence of the boards of the banks generally," McDonald wrote.
"It indicates a lack of knowledge, capability and responsibility in relation to the bank's risk parameters, which must be at the core of any banks competence."
…
"In my opinion, reflecting the false attestations alone, the chairman and chief executive of the bank should resign or be removed from role, as well as heads of risk, legal and compliance and at least two other directors should be 'retired' as part of a board 'refresh' to improve the overall competence of the board," he said.
The RBNZ is working in a plan to force the banks in NZ to hold more capital as a bulwark against future financial shocks. The banks have embarked on a campaign of fear-mongering claiming that the RBNZ’s plan would act like “a handbrake” on our economy and ultimately lead to higher (borrowing) costs for customers.
The New Zealand Bankers Association's (NZBA) had commissioned a report by research organisation Sapere to counter the RBNZ’s plans.
The NZBA-commissioned report by Sapere said that the Reserve Bank's proposals focused on credit crisis, when generally in New Zealand when central authorities needed to step in to help the banking system, it tended to be because of poor management or governance, not an external shock. [my bold]
It seems to me that ANZ New Zealand is trying to have it both ways.
IRONY ALERT! Noelle McCarthy, who laughs at the suffering of political prisoners and sneers at human rights protestors, interviewed someone about "assholes" this morning.
RNZ National, Saturday 1 June 2019
After the 9 a.m. news the breathy, chirpy, Cork-accented Noelle McCarthy interviewed one John Walker, a Canadian who has made a documentary entitled Assholes: A Theory. According to his own publicity material, the film is "a direct response to psychology professor Aaron James' witty bestseller about why some people are assholes and how to deal with them – in an age when the trait seems to be on the rise."
The interview itself turned out to be neither particularly amusing nor insightful. At one point Noelle McCarthy chortled knowingly when he said: "Imagine the situation when one of these assholes is actually running your country!" Perhaps she was thinking of the situation in New Zealand from 2008 to December 2016.
The discussion was interesting, though, for what it left out: a sub-species of asshole who delights in the suffering of others. I sent the laughing hostess the following email….
You forgot the most disgusting assholes of all
Dear Noelle,
In your interview about "assholes" with John Walker this morning, neither of you mentioned a particularly noxious and heinous example of the genus, viz., those unspeakable individuals who laugh at the suffering of political prisoners.
Here's an especially repellent example of that kind of thing:
"Heh, heh, heh. Well someone else with not such a good view is Edward Snowden. [snicker] Looks like he’s STILL in the airport! … Y-y-y-y-yeeeeeessss, …. [snort] ….he he he! He’s still in hiding. He he he! …. He he he he he! Yes he is still in that terminal! …[snort]… He he he he he he! ….[snort]…. He’s got a choice! Venezuela, Bolivia or Ecuador! …. Bolivia would be hard with the altitude! …. "
Hopefully you can interview John Walker another time, and add that kind of vicious asshole to his list.
Thumbs down to Radionz for settling on ironic and cynical themes for one, and not promoting some of regular NZ journalists to the role of supporting workers which Noelle seems to be part of. Can we hear NZ voices more please, not all these British and other 5 Eyes imports who are lovely people except for one failing, they are taking a NZ place in their own country's media, and we must have better balance – aim for 80/20 perhaps.
"Political prisoner and outspoken critic of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, Yulije Asanjey has been locked up in one of Russia's worst prisons for many years and may now face death through deliberate neglect of his medical condition
Asanjey became famous in the 2000's through exposing Russian aggression and covert spy activities over several years
Initially imprisoned for what many regard as trumped up charges,Asanjey has been declared the victim of torture by leading UN rapporteurs and experts on torture.
Russia's notorious prison system has long had a deliberate policy of breaking down prisoners so that they either die or are rendered incapable of conducting an effective defence. Denial of access or very limited access to lawyers and medical attention is a common ploy
Journalists from all over the world have expressed their support of Asanjey.
Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch and press freedom campaigners have joined under the common banner Free Asanjey!
The US has applied far reaching economic sanctions on Russia, for its continued flouting of UN rulings and increasing crack down on the free press"
Aha got it. But it sounded so true, and is with a reversal of approach. I still think I should support Amnesty I but sometimes the way things are done is surprising. Is Amnesty British – they could pop up to No.10 and sort everything out quite quickly, no, now I think of it they are tied up in knots, choose your own version, over Brexit and also who will be the next Clown Jester for PM.
Here are some knots and how to tie them. This might be the most useful information that arises from the blog today.
Hi Jenny How. Another time that you rush off before telling us what it's about. I’ll set it up under a keyword presumed explanation but it’s discombobulated in it original transition to the post here.
Indeed, many a commenter here seems to think that TS is their personal playground in which they can play by themselves or have one-on-one fun & games. At the same time, they seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are being watched, so to speak, by many silent readers of the site.
Do Nations have the Right to protect their Citizens, their Laws, their Trade and their Freedoms. ?
Or do they have to put up with illegal and weird Hackers, and Uninvited camera men rumaging for so called "scandal reports" and free feeds day and night.
I think it is proper for a Nation to clean up its own numerous flaws, before pronouncing the wickedness of others.
One must say they are consistent though mustn't one! And apparently those with the 3 B's – Beach and bach, BMW and Boat – are quite happy to live in a sort of rotten borough.
I wouldn't be surprised if this has been up before but it sounds good., Stephen Fry on Brexit. Called Brexit: The End Game – The Hidden Money. It starts off with the info that Europe doesn't decide on how to spend UKs money.
He says "Britain can't take back control from the EU; because we never lost it. 99% of UK public expenditure is determined by the UK government." Immigration is different but Britain controls the major amount of immigration which is from outside the EU; 248,000 net migration compared to EU – 74,000 net migration.
We are embarrassingly unaware of how divided our societies are, and Brexit grew out of a deep, unexamined divide between those that fear globalization and those that embrace it, says social scientist Alexander Betts.
How do we now address that fear as well as growing disillusionment with the political establishment, while refusing to give in to xenophobia and nationalism? Join Betts as he discusses four post-Brexit steps toward a more inclusive world.
If anyone still believes there are adequate protections for people with disabilities within the End Of Life Choices Bill you really need to read Chris Ford's piece posted in Newsroom.
I know that this will put me in the same column as Christian conservatives who also oppose the legislation for moral reasons. Personally, this makes me feel very uneasy given that I hold otherwise progressively social liberal views on issues such as abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTI rights, women’s issues and indigenous issues, etc. Yet, I want to outline from a socialist, progressive and disability rights perspective as to why I have swung my support to the anti-euthanasia camp.
The turning point for me came about a month ago. I saw the report of a meeting hosted by disabled people’s organisation, People First (a group run by and for people with learning/intellectual disabilities) in the Central North Island. At that meeting, access to health care was discussed, as this is a key issue – particularly for people within this segment of the disability community – for whom find it difficult accessing care for many reasons, including attitudinal issues on the part of some medical professionals. This was exemplified by the stories shared at the meeting where some people – who had gone to hospital for treatment – had discovered upon reading their files that they had ‘no resuscitation’ orders attached to them. More problematically, these orders had not been requested by any of the disabled people or their families.
Rosemary, I'm sure your realize that there is no comparison between a decision not to prolong the artificial extension of a person's life and a decision to actively kill a patient.
I'm not sure the likes of David Seymour and Michael Laws appreciate the difference, which is a grave concern.
This passive euthanasia is happening at an ED near you.
My partner was bailed up by an ED supervising doctor with a clipboard a few weeks ago and was told in no uncertain terms that opting for the DNR option made perfectly good sense because, like, 'you know we'd probably break your ribs doing CPR, and you'd end up with pneumonia and its doubtful that ICU would take someone with your co-morbidities any way…' Sign here…
He had rather dramatically passed out. He was confused upon coming round. Yet two hours later and after a battery of health and cognitive function tests he was adjudged to be in tip- top health. They even noted that his leukaemia was so far in remission that heamatology considered him 'cured'. The only 'off' thing was strangely fluctuating blood pressure, which is so common as to be considered normal… for a C5 tetraplegic.
And it was the tetraplegia that tipped him into the 'we'd rather not bother resuscitating your sorry arse' category.
My man, by this time, had resumed normal function and proceeded to 'negotiate' with the clipboard carrying ED doctor with his sheaf of DNR forms that he expected them to try active resuscitation for at least 15-20 minutes.
Fashion needs to give way to having clothing and other goods to last decades and not mare minutes in in reality. I can remember when a new pear of jeans last 2 months and then split up the backside.
I say buying secondhand is were the NEW fashion trend needs to go it is all read happening in some Nordic Countries very cool trend that will help preserve our mokopuna futures.
I say making sure that the things we buy are made humanely and environmentally friendly ways that's is the way OUR future has to GO.
I say less is best we have heaps of consumer goods that we don't need that's bad for our future and environment juses blenders pie maker pancakes maker and many other goods that we actually do need.
The mental health and the health of our tamariki is of utmost importance.
I agree strongly with Mike's statement that thinking is taking to yourself.
I'm constantly examining past events finding the TRUTH of what occurred and why things occurred.
I agree that we need to give our tamariki confidence to nurture them tell them you love them every day and treating them with love also .I say disciplining correctly is giving them love if you can see tamariki making mistakes doing things wrong you must discipline them so they learn not to do dumb Shit and tell them you love them afterwards. conferdince is giving with aroha
Whanau Eco Maori did not like the way shonky was ruining Aotearoa I could see it a mile away his underarm plays.
This story proves it he is a cheat the 00.1 % cheat all the time as they know that a fraction of there money that they gain from cheating will buy them impunity
ANZ's board, led by the former leader of our country, had been signing off on an operational risk model (which works out how much capital the bank needs in case of a shock or economic downturn) that had actually been dumped in
The ANZ board is stocked with people who you might assume would know a thing or three about bank capital.
How did this come about? The Reserve Bank "had encouraged" ANZ to review its attestation process, through which bank directors assess whether the bank is complying with the conditions of its regulations. It was only after this nudge that ANZ discovered the problem.
But before you get hot about it, it's cool. The Reserve Bank made it hold more money in case of a rainy day rather than lend it out in profitable ways like mortgages.
When the Reserve Bank found out, it stripped ANZ of its right to calculate how much risk capital it will hold. Yes, it used to be able to decide this itself.
This means our biggest bank is required to hold a further $277 million, taking it to a total of about $760m in case of bad news.
Kerry McDonald was chairman of BNZ for 12 years until 2008 and also sat on the board of its owners, National Australia Bank from 2005 to 2008.
Ouchie.
Now, ANZ won't like this one bit. This ruling increases the minimum capital ANZ must hold by around 60 per cent.
As Simplicity founder Sam Stubbs has pointed out, one reason profits are so high here is the Australian owned banks have to provide less capital than locally owned banks to support their lending.
So this will hurt ANZ in the wallet. But with the chunky-profits these Aussie banks make here, I think ANZ (who earned a record profit a sniff under $2 billion in the last financial year just in New Zealand) will cope.
Unlike former BNZ chairmanKerry McDonald, who wrote to Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr to call for heads to roll, I am neither amazed, nor surprised, at the penalty imposed on the bank. Thanks Dad.
He argues that Key, chief executive David Hisco, the highest paid bank executive in New Zealand who is currently off on sick leave, and several others, at ANZ should resign.
The bank's board had been signing this off for years, apparently without noticing if you give them the benefit of the doubt.
And it has to be said, Sir John Key wasn't there in 2014, 2015 or 2016 – joining the bank with his shiny new title smartly after leaving Parliament in 2017.
The board is stocked with people who you might assume would know a thing or three about banking. Ka kite ano p.s I smelt a korori
I agree with Sadiq Khan trump and his alt right m8 are shorting the world political they will make a big mess of our Papatuanuku and take human rights back a hundred years if the leftys don’t get up and stop them
Donald Trump is like a 20th-century fascist, says Sadiq Khan
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has compared the language used by Donald Trump to rally his supporters to that of “the fascists of the 20th century” in an explosive intervention before the US president’s state visit to London that begins on Monday.
Writing in the Observer, Khan condemned the red-carpet treatment being afforded to Trump who, with his wife Melania, will be a guest of the Queen during his three-day stay, which is expected to provoke massive protests in the capital on Tuesday
Khan said: “President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than 70 years.
It’s un-British to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump
Read more
“Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage here in the UK are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support, but with new sinister methods to deliver their message. And they are gaining ground and winning power and influence in places that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago
Donald Trump is a populist and a nationalist of the largest economy and still most powerful country on earth. Khan is the current Mayor of one city, and an outsider within his own Labour Party.
Trump is not a Nazi, despite all the protestations of Madeline Albright et al. He's just a self-interested thug making bank for his family for a few years before he's turfed next year.
The hard right had their chance in the EU elections last week, and they showed they didn't have what it takes to storm the castle and start dismantling.
The Youth Rainbow community needs to be shown respect as all people do.
I say that the airline should be included in the plan to mitigate climate change this will make them chase alternatives powers for planes.
trump has to remember that every word he says bounces around the world media I sort of know what that is like.
The foxglacia council should have cleaned up the dump mess I say that they have had enough money to clean it up.
It's a hard task getting whare at the minute I would not like to try and rent a whare with tamariki these days you would need to no the owner or have a wand.
That's the way Julain championing the poverty of the Ugandan people and tamariki is bad ka pai M8.
Eco Maori say those people who have thrown darts at the Rainbow community are only thinking about their public profiles and not the damage they have done to the people of the Rainbow community.
Te Whare tu is helping keep tangata whenua O Aotearoa cultural going strong ka pai I get a sore face knowing that OUR culture is getting te mana back.
I totally agree us Maori men are portrayed as violent thefting thugs that really PISSs Eco Maori off thanks for making films that show Maori men in a cleaner light.
Cool I tau toko you for encouraging Maori to seek a higher education .
These are the people who rule our Papatuanuku I hope they can see that most people want a better future for there tamariki and NOW is the time to embrace the change if they don't jump on the Climate Mitigation Waka they will be left in OUR dust time to dump CARBON.
Security at the wharf was drum tight. Amid a sea of secret service personnel, Pompeo was accompanied by the US ambassador to Switzerland, Ed McMullen. The pair looked keen to continue the geopolitical strategizing over canapés.
The secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, was flanked by heavily armed bodyguards as he strode along the jetty. He has attended the last three Bilderberg meetings, turning up for “informal discussions” with a watchful squad of security and staff
Bilderberg has a keen and growing interest in high-tech and AI. Schmidt’s fellow Bilderberg insider Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal and a director of Facebook, was seen arriving with the Swedish physicist and AI expert Sara Mazur ka kite ano link below.
Its thanks to people like Blomfield who have the mana to stand up to people like Slater and don't let Slaters intimidating tactics scare them into staying silent.
If it wasn't for people like Blomfield we would not have found out about the $40.000 double dip by a well known MP.
People like Blomfield are few and far between quite rear so Eco Maori is asking everyone to tau toko Blomfield and BUY HIS BOOK he deserves the leftys tau toko.
The case was never about defamation. It has been a way that Blomfield could force his tormenter to verify the fantasies being presented as fact on his now disgraced blog. Slater failed and was finally impaled by a harpoon that he had unleashed, ultimately on himself
As the stories dragged on and I got to know Blomfield better, I told him not to worry. The lies told about him were not as appalling as the truth frequently told about me. But the lies were having a toll and this unwanted fight with a cyber thug with connections to the highest offices in the land was taxing what was an otherwise irrepressible spirit.
Blomfield, it needs to be said, and I am pleased to say it, isn't a man to be dissuaded by slander, intimidation or a gunman discharging a shotgun in his face. For seven years he took Slater and his cohort of degenerates through the long and painful process of a defamation trial.
The case was never about defamation. It has been a way that Blomfield could force his tormenter to verify the fantasies being presented as fact on his now disgraced blog. Slater failed and was finally impaled by a harpoon that he had ka kite ano link below.
Ka pai Pio for championing tiny houses and sustainable live off the land + clean energy solar power we need more tangata like you to champion the cause.
Our Mokopuna futures depend on people like us never giving up the cause.
TV personality Pio Terei is hatching a tiny house plan.
It was a plan that needed some research first. So he hopped on his electric bike and headed off to seek out some of the country's most innovative home owners; Kiwis who've chucked caution and convention to the wind to live sustainably and build the life of their dreams on their own terms. And boy, did he find them, dwelling in everything from teepees to whare uke, from container houses to earth ships.
Those encounters became Off The Grid,an eight episode TV series from Māori Television that aims to inspire viewers to give sustainable living a go. There's the sharing of practical advice and a few laughs along the way. Talking to him a couple of months before the show is set to air, it seems to have the actor, singer and comedian all fired up for a tiny house of his own
Ka kite ano links below P.S I know what you're name means kia ora
Kia kaha to the Youth climate activist it is your futures WE are fighting for go hard it makes me happy to see that the climate is taking center stage now after all the Strikes you have staged.
Youth climate activists set for nationwide rallies ahead of landmark case
Students in Austin, Texas, want you to veg out. Kids in Westport, Connecticut will screen a film. And in rural North Carolina, activists will draw on a toxic spill to commemorate the environmental justice movement. The slogan refers to the landmark court case in Oregon in which 21 youths are suing the United States government over climate change.
Named for Kelsey Juliana, a 23-year-old activist and college student, the case was filed in 2015 and is headed back to court on Tuesday. The campaign to raise its profile – dubbed #IAmJuliana or #AllEyesOnJuliana – is the brainchild of Our Children’s Trust, the organization behind the lawsuit, and Future Coalition, the not-for-profit network forged to empower youth after the Parkland shooting.
A youth activist on the climate crisis: politicians won't step up.
What’s unique about the campaign is what it signals: the infrastructure behind the youth climate movement is growing, decentralizing, and gaining momentum, all while activists set sights on the 2020 election
All of these rallies will be part of an international campaign on Saturday to spotlight environmental issues. Their message: Ka kite ano link below
Its cool to see more Wahine receiving houners congrats Grame you deserve your tohu houner I remember when the Kiwi players of old going hard At the Sea Eagles Billaria.
The Aviation industry has to change to green fuels or everyone will just use skipe for business meetings they will save money and carbon being burned to protect their children futures.
Its not on that the Richmonds have to fight for custody of their mokopuna from the man who killed their daughter.
Its good that Ken got his houner for his mahi of looking after men who have been abused .
Kia ora Patsy's for your honorable recognition of your services to he tangata.
I agree the tabaco taxs are hurting Maori in the hip pocket but the amount of people at the hospital with respiratory problems has dropped dramatically we need programs to help our people quit smoking.
Redcross needs more donations to help cope with the huge numbers needing their good help dig deep Whanau you can find the Red Cross site online.
Ka kite ano P.S I will put up a link to Redcross site
The ultra-rich have done very, very well out of the pandemic. Globally, the wealth of the ten richest people rose by US$540 billion last year, enough money to pay for the pandemic in its entirity. And in New Zealand, local billionaire Graeme Hart saw his wealth increase by almost NZ$3.5 ...
Postmodernism has long been looked upon as an indecipherable ideology and a source of amusement. In 1996 Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a hoax article published in ‘Social Text’ an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. In ‘Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Anew study in Nature Sustainability incorporates the damages that climate change does to healthy ecosystems into standard climate-economics models. The key finding in the study by Bernardo Bastien-Olvera and Frances Moore from the University of California at Davis: The models have been underestimating the ...
In a recent interview with RNZ (14th of January), NZ Council of Civil Liberties Chair Thomas Beagle, in response to Simon Bridges condemnation of the post-Trump Twitter purge of local far Right and other accounts, said the following: “Cos the thing about freedom of expression is that it’s not just ...
Let’s be clear: if Trump is not politically killed off once and for all, he will become a MAGA Dracula, rising from the dead to haunt US politics for years to come and giving inspiration to his wretched family of grifters and thousands of deplorables well into the next decade. ...
Since its demise as an imperial power, and especially its deindustrialisation under Thatcher, the UK's primary economic engine has been its role as a money laundry, using its network of overseas territories as tax havens to enable rich people around the world to steal from the societies they live in. ...
Last month OMV quit the Great South Basin and surrendered its offshore exploration permits outside of Taranaki. This month, Australian-owned Beach Energy has done the same: Beach Energy Resources New Zealand has decided to abandon all of its oil and gas exploration permits off the South Island coast, including ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA ...
MARVIN HUBBARD, US citizen by birth, New Zealand citizen by choice, Quaker and left-wing activist, has been broadcasting his show, "Community or Chaos", on Otago Access Radio for the best part of 30 years. On 24 November last year, I spoke with him about the outcome of the 2020 General ...
This is a guest blog post by Daniel Tamberg, Potsdam, co-founder and director of SCIARA GmbH. The non-profit organisation SCIARA is developing and operating a flexible software platform for scientific simulation games that allows thousands of players to explore, design and understand possible climate futures together. Decision-makers in politics, business, ...
Yesterday's Gone: Cold shivers are running up and down the spines of conservatives everywhere. Donald Trump may have gone, but all the signs point to there being something much more momentous in the wind-shift than a simple return to the status quo ante. A change is gonna come. ONE COULD ...
Is it possible to live and let live in the post-Trump era? The online campaign to vilify Christopher Liddell, ex-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to Trump, makes for an interesting case study. Liddell is a New Zealander whose illustrious career in corporate America once earned him plaudits ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 17, 2021 through Sat, Jan 23, 2021Editor's Choice12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate changeAuthors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action ...
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...
Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...
A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Increased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...
The latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...
With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again, on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...
I thought it mighty clever of the weather to turn to Winter overnight. Sitting pretty here in a house of brick. It wasn't always so easy.
Let's hear it for a budget tackling homelessness, let's hear it for a government trying to address mental health.
Sleep.
I spent parts of winter sleeping half at night, half in the day. This was in order to cope with the cold. From cars to windowless squats, beneath bridges and basements abandoned; the houses of homelessness are cold.
To sleep it helped to be inebriated so one's body (and head) would allow you some sleep. I'd curl up in a foetal position with covers over my head to recirculate the warm air, and hands tucked between my legs to try get them warm. It was enough for a while and I'd drift off, but by around 4 a.m. either my reserves or the temperature had dropped sufficiently that it woke me.
There were several hours till dawn and though many preferred to stay down, shivering as temperatures bottomed out, I had to move.
Morning calisthenics. 4 a.m. drills for the idle unemployed. Press ups, squats, burpees. Soon I'd be warm enough to stop shivering, warm enough that the ringing in my ears would subside, warm enough to roll a smoke without tearing the paper in half. The burning coal of a cigarette cupped in the palms of my hands.
I'd march. Off to the parks, to the coast and the dunes. Under lupins and round the river mouths. In the places fungi grew in abundance. Magical fungi, munchable fungi. From the city to the fields and back again.
We ate fungi, watercress, seafood, rustled sheep, pilfered fruit, garden raids, dumpster diving and homeless handouts. We never thought about how we were homeless, we were surviving. Mental health, abuse, alcoholism, addiction, abandonment. It was all there, and it was all intertwined. We absolved ourselves with three Fuck You's and a bottle of grog.
A portion of us were typically in prison. This was normal. Some were locked up for stealing liquor, others robbing chemists; I for picking mushrooms and growing weed. Whatever it takes means different things to different people, and survival trumped law in most cases. As society had done to us the things that were done to us, then fuck society. We would look after ourselves.
We were divided in attitudes between those of us who wanted to change the world, and those who wanted to burn it all down. There's too much time to think when you are homeless. To feel purpose it helps if one can move purposefully. To live amongst the hopeless it requires a special kind of strength to even dare to dream. We were young and we still dared, but for many it was a dream.
Overdose, car accident, murder, life. Slowly they vanished as if they'd never existed. Long forgotten by those purported to love them. Dead.
The eulogies I wrote were prosaic and deep. It was tragedy and tragedy then tragedy again. Absentee parents wailed soulfully upon the caskets of those they held dear. Too little and too late they'd turn up in their cars. Countenance grave; soft words finally spoken.
Thanks for sharing that. Such insights into our collective reality are essential, and a helpful antidote to the economic/political spin around the budget, reminding us what it's all about really. And resilience contains emotional intelligence as a social necessity…
That's a stunning piece WTB, thank you for sharing.
Amazing writing. The lampooning of absentee parents is exquisite.
National are absentee parents. Wailing over the graves they create.
Same as Dennis and HS; you've hinted at this before so it's not a surprise. But I am moved by the intensity of it. And not only have you journeyed through that dark, damp land … but you found the path out of it.
I for one await more of the story, if and when it's time to tell it.
Wonderful writing BLP
And I want to hear more of this wonderful life
Ditto francesca (1.5)
Nice work there.
Gives your thoughts context.
I echo all of the sentiments by the rest on here WTB. A wonderful piece, and thank you for sharing. There are a few favourite places here in our town for some to find a bit of shelter. A convenient nook in an alleyway just off the main street makes an ideal spot. It's covered over and reasonably secluded, but it would be a bugger in a westerly! Behind the church is good too and just over the road from the pub. It's also sheltered from the wind and has soft grass. We have around 15 to 20 sleeping really rough here, and are about to get expanded accommodation for those nights when it really is too bad to be unsheltered.
WTB if TS don't make you an author, go to TDB. You owe it to all of us.
Thank you.
WOW! A brilliant piece of writing WTB (1) … I'd like to say it was a great story. However, the story you told wasn't/isn't so great for far too many Kiwis.
Thanks for taking the time to share such a raw, gritty expose` of homelessness in NZ, through personal experience.
Lived experience speaks with an authentic voice. Thank you WTB for sharing, for keeping your sense of hope and for recognising the efforts made to change the way budgets are formed. May you enjoy your brick house and the winter warmth your home offers you for the rest of your days. Please write more.
Gordon Campbell analyses the European election outcome (http://werewolf.co.nz/2019/05/gordon-campbell-on-europes-non-surrender-to-far-right-extremism/)and here's an interesting section:
"In Portugal and Spain, the incumbent governments of the centre-left were rewarded by voters. In Spain, voters rejected the far right populist party Vox, which collapsed back to 6% from the 10% high it achieved only a fortnight ago in the Spanish general elections."
"On the radical left, Podemos saw its support decline to 10%, a sharp fall from the 18% they’d scored in the last European Parliament elections. The decline of Podemos holds a cautionary message for the Green Party in New Zealand. Now that Podemos is no longer an outsider party but is actively propping up the Socialist government of Pedro Sanchez, much of its support has been bleeding back to Sanchez and his PSOE party, which has long been Spain’s neo-liberal Third Way party of the centre-left. In a further blow, radical left mayors in major cities (including the high profile administration of Ada Colau in Barcelona) lost their fights for re-election. In Spain as whole, the radical left is being marginalised by regional parties, and by the Establishment left."
As a life-long radical, I've always found the radical left amusing. I share their striving to attain an ideal world, while remaining baffled at their reluctance to learn from political experience. It makes no sense for the Greens to marginalise themselves on the extreme left. Too few voters support such idiocy.
Usually radical leftists reject centrism in favour of ideological purity. They refuse to admit that support for the underdog is more politically potent when it comes from a party that controls the political centre and selects governments. As Winston has proven. The GP needs leaders who are capable of learning the lesson.
while remaining baffled at their reluctance to learn from political experience.
It's less baffling if you contemplate their probable motives, the ones they never speak to directly.
Nonsense. The Greens are about as "Left" as Holyoak.
Extreme only in your dreams.
The extremists are those who think business as usual is even possible.
Nuance. I made no blanket statement re the Greens, just advised against any leftist extremism. There's a ginger group (mainly idealistic youngsters) within the party which formed several years ago to lobby for such positioning. I've seen their spokespeople being explicit in calling for that partisan stance and alignment at our conferences. They are open, honest, and forthright in doing so.
Add to that is the unending nauseating way media professionals keep depicting the Greens as `to the left of Labour'. Hardly surprising that a popular view of the Greens being wild-eyed radicals has gained currency. Hopelessly unrealistic…
@KJT +1 “The extremists are those who think business as usual is even possible.”
You fail to point out that since the emergence of centrist liberalisim as the dominating force in western left wing politics from the late 1970's, what was once just left is now framed as extreme or radical left.
The reason cenerism should and is being rejected is because it has failed to work, or work for the many and not just the few..or haven't you noticed.
Go and read WeTheBleeple’s piece at the beginning of today’s open mike, and think about the homeless families living in cars all over NZ, all the working poor in NZ who spend over half their wages on rent, that is free market centerism in action for you.
Turn Labour Left!
Cameron to get a software upgrade:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/31/david-cameron-takes-job-with-us-artificial-intelligence-firm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Green suit-wearers will be careerists, of course, but doesn't mean inability to grasp the big picture. Here we have the Values schism to teach us that the centrists are essential to the political success of the Green left (if they were able to learn the lesson) whereas in Germany the thirty years war between fundies & realos seems to have been resolved.
"A surge of support, helped by the Fridays for Future protest movement, propelled Germany's Greens to second place in Sunday's European Parliament elections, at the expense of the mainstream parties. Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU/CSU bloc and their ailing junior coalition partners the Social Democrats (SPD) both suffered historic losses after being caught flat-footed on environmental policy."
https://www.thelocal.de/20190527/the-perfect-storm-germany-feels-heat-of-climate-vote?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=71&tpcc=de-just-rhs
The thing with all of this thinking, within multiple contexts/systems:
The edge is where the action occurs. New ideas, new genes, new philosophies.
The center is where most of the energy resides, but this is mostly used to maintain the status quo, broken or not. There is an illusion in the center, being the 'holders of power', that everything held in check belongs to the center and is of the center's doing.
But it came from an edge. The refusal to listen to the fringe is everyone's limitation.
I understand your position in trying to help more fringe lefties gain some ideas for relative longevity and a platform for their positions: but the center swallows the edge, it's very nature being conformity to the center.
Much better that we allow fringe political players to be their own entities (within reason and civility) as a think-tank for the center – as it has always been, but let's be honest about who's doing all the thinking.
The people with real problems to solve – or the well to do?
…who's doing all the thinking. The people with real problems to solve – or the well to do?
I don't find thinking and questioning and willingness to consider other less-materially-successful peoples viewpoint among the well to do. Not as a rule.
You have to step aside and view things objectively, wonder about how it is for others, listen to their tales and then wonder about what led them there. The amount of wondering that people do, of the different ways that people react to the same events and treatment, all helps to get a depth to relating to others. Most well to do are too busy managing their resources, and choosing ways to observe things or do things important to their group to sit and wonder.
Running in marathons is a perfect example. A totally unimportant activity, a personal challenge to skite about, and very much about self and proving yourself not lazy and meeting some herd convention. Why don't people raise to merit the groups going out to cut down old mans beard suffocating forest for instance. That requires all the fitness put into a marathon; that would be the wondering herd in action, not the stampeding herd off on some psychological desire to prove themselves as good as the old pioneers.
"Running marathons is a perfect example" greywarshark, the same idiocy is involved in climbing the same mountain 10 times.
Feck, the airfares the costs and the energy could have built several tiny homes.
Climbers are held up to us as heroes. Edmund Hillary was, because he followed up with meaningful humanitarian efforts. Now it is a mighty money churn and less than edifying.
Many who are well off do not see their wealth, because they "Don't have a ……." (put a toy in there).
It get's cold at night so the mountaineers have to hold each other. It's still debatable to this day: who was on top first, Hillary, or Tensing. – Me.
Harry Holland's life confirms your analysis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Holland
Cripes Jenny How – a second great Australian in the early Labour party, Holland Savage.
And I always sniggered at Muldoon's quip:
New Zealanders who leave for Australia raise the IQ of both countries · Robert Muldoon.
Now I'm laughing on the other side of my face.
Of course, then there was the Premier of Queensland.
Yes – but Queenslander's voted for him!
The edge is where the action occurs. New ideas, new genes, new philosophies.
Agreed. But keep in mind that only a small fraction of new ideas turn out to be good ideas. Radicals always risk going too far in their search.
The center is where most of the energy resides, but this is mostly used to maintain the status quo, broken or not.
Again agreed, yet keep in mind that while the status quo is always flawed and imperfect, we still depend on it for our daily survival. Yet as you say when it refuses to listen, the centre stagnates and becomes tyrannical.
The edge is represents the new, the unknown and the unstable, while the centre is the opposite. While both domains have their natural inhabitants, they also both need each other. They need to trade.
When you're mixing ingredients preparing to cook something, you keep adding and blending, repeating that till the mix is in right proportions needed for a good outcome. We need better chefs, cooks and kitchen hands following better practices if we want to lift our standards and then share out the buns fairly. That way we wouldn't get egg on our own faces or want to decorate the faces of supposed smart leaders.
Difference between a chef and a cook is a chef knows how to shop better. Asians by far have a far superior cultural tradition of low end deliciousness because across the Asian continent food has been far more democratised than in the west. In Asia cooks don't have to make difficult choices because the produce is so cheap to source and buy. In Asia it is possible to pick up a delicious hot sit down meal for 50 cents served to your table. In the west the well housed and well fed have a far greater cultural tradition of deciding who gets to eat and who doesn't.
In the 80's jokes was the currency of the work place smoko room. In the 90's not so much and in the naughties the lunch room turned into a sour affair as work breaks became less and less and productivity up and up. No one has the instincts to tell a joke any more. The people that make up The Labour Party flow in and out of ministerial offices, they are no longer selected from the people who know something about society so Labour lacks those democtratic instincts and must rely on committee groups to come up with ideas and working groups to hold there hands as they run the country.
Even though Labour are after higher wages and higher health they recognise the injustice of what Māori went through because they still have a beating heart. That kind of Labour Party will serve New Zealand particularly well. If MPs can teach themselves the big things then they'll have the instincts to know how things are run and then those smarties won't need pollsters. Although we can't whined the economy back to the 80's we've got a changing industrial relationship and every one doesn't wear the old high school knock around shoes anymore. We do have a different economy today. The same instincts are around and we've got to have more of that in The Labour Party and we've missed doing that in the last 15-20 years.
Yes, I fully agree with your reasoning & analysis. I'm still on the edge, in respect of investigating new thinking continuously, but I plonked one foot in the establishment at the start of '75, to have a career, and ended up straddling both realms, uneasily.
I've always found most Greens too mainstream in their thinking, for instance. Yet to get consensus, I had to work constructively with them. Overcoming my natural distaste for compromising essential principles was always hard, yet the sustained effort got us into parliament, and the compromises our reps in parliament have had to make are similar to mine in those respects.
So nowadays I advocate a consensus praxis to overcome partisan divides, and am pleased that we finally have a government actually doing that. Still, we must keep pushing for more innovative thinking around governance. The world needs that, not just us here in Aotearoa!
The launch this week of the book Whale Oil understandably put Cameron Slater and his dirty blogging at the centre of attention. But he has been in some cases paid and aided, abetted and used by a number of accomplices.
Someone who has been closely associated with Slater in his sustained attacks on Matt Blomfield is an ex-business associate of Blomfield’s, Marc Spring. If anything he has done more for longer than Slater.
One way Spring has kept attacks going against Blomfield) is his use of many identities in his online activities.
How many identities? That’s hard to quantify, but it’s many. my guess is well over a hundred identities, if not many more.
I identified over 40 in an eight month period on just one blog.
There have probably been some here.
Use of multiple pseudonyms is deceptive, and is bad for the many people who legitimately and reasonably use a pseudonym, as id discredits the use of pseudonyms generally.
The many identities of Marc Spring
It sounds to me like this man Spring is a pyschopath with obsessive disorders. Has he been investigated? He sounds dangerous.
That is very informative and insightful pete george. Thank you. We do have to keep watch for the evil people that are round, sort of have sensitive traps in our minds that register particular types of thought and action; a bit like traps for insects and predators that can be so deadly for our food sources.
Having seen of some of his antics over the years your description sounds pretty right. You could have used the word 'multiple' in front of obsessive.
It's interesting describing the behaviour and the personality in proper scientific, psychological terms. The easiest thing would be to say things like 'dirty, lowdown, scumbag piece of shit."
Be good to know his aliases here
Here are Marc Spring identities that have been used on various blogs and media comments forums.
ThreeMonkeys
SHAFT
The Ape
NOT MIKE
4077th
Gweg pwesland
pimp
phillip
DaveG
slicedcheesesandwich
Justice4Matt
BLOMFIELDS EX BIZ PARTNER
Harry ‘Gold Star’ Stottle
Harry Stottle
to HELL in a handbasket
The Assasin
David Jessop
CHEEKY DARKY
the MONKEYS RAINCOAT
Elton
Samantha Hays
The Barber
They Walk, they talk, they harm
THE PRIEST
Hannibal Lecters Psychologist
Inspector Clouseau
Rod
I HAVE THE HARD DRIVE
MARC NEVER FORGETS CUNT
I AM OWED TOO
THE WORST NIGHTMARE
When dies Bankrupt = Businessman
Jean
Bus Driver
LORD DONKEY
Harvey Specter
TYRANT/THE TYRANT
HUSTLER
BUCK WIT
Shagger
Gimp of Greenhithe
Spiderman wants his mask back
RAMBONE OF RAMBONIA
Reaper Crew
Gay Mo
Rolf Harris
Bill Brown
Reaper Crew
The last one is one of I believe a number he has used at LF.
https://yournz.org/2019/06/01/the-many-identities-of-marc-spring-include/
Isn’t that one of those psychological word-association tests to unearth deep psychological trauma, damaged or stalled identity development, and psychopathic tendencies?
Mad as a meat-axe . Threemonkeys and Rod ring a bell for me. Never frequented Whale Oil or Kiwiblog so suspect he used them here in times past.
I suppose this has already been noted here. Amy Adams of National accusing Labour Coalition of playing 'petty politics' in changes to the convention of the pre-Budget practices. WTF when Simon B does it, it is okay – he is just testing the government by breaking reasonable agreements.
I should think that Labour Coalition was actually trying to prevent National doing more of their petty measures and turning what was a serious financial presentation into a Punch and Judy show.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1905/S00287/government-playing-petty-politics-with-budget-day-process.htm
National’s Finance spokesperson Amy Adams says. 29 May 2019
“While media and other parties are given three and a half hours to examine the Government’s accounts before they are released, National is only allowed 60 minutes. Because of this we need a wide range of subject matter experts to review their areas. Last year we had 16 of our team present and to have this arbitrarily halved this year is unreasonable and petty, particularly when we are told this year’s Budget will look very different to previous years.
From what I read in te newspaper, they had to move the whole lock-up process to a smaller room this year. That's all.
Ah but that can be played out as part of a Conspiracy against National.
And perhaps the room was further from the toilets – another form of harassment. Gnats are really sick in the mind, and it says something too about the people who keep voting them in, keep supporting them, keep listening to the diatribe from the bellicose broadcasters providing them with a comforting blanket of words for the day that the Right Crowd can repeat to prevent any uncomfortable thoughts from filtering through the Matrix.
I notice a lot of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’ is pertinent.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
And even that wording can be bent and used against you by the RW and some from the Left as well. And that is dealt with in those lines also. A meaningful poem.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if—
Fascinating in-depth documentary on the influence of cannabis in the Bible. It seems the word cannabis was Scythian in origin and it was they who traded and spread it throughout Eurasia. The Greeks called it by the same name while the Jews called it Kaneh Bosm, each culture giving the plant a variation of the Scythian name. Like others, the Jews valued its ability to get high (restricted to the high priests, prophets and kings), nutritional value and use for hemp clothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0bH6Z_OSp8
Assange showing symptoms of 'psychological torture': UN
Statement accuses the US, UK, Sweden and Ecuador of "ganging up" on Assange to "isolate, demonise and abuse" him.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/assange-showing-symptoms-psychological-torture-190531135445284.html
John Pilger: US Charges Against Julian Assange are RIDICULOUS!
Thanks for this john. I've been following this sad development and watching the entire fiasco unravel on every front. I used some strong language a few days back, and the light of this I don't resile from it one jot.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/05/the-unrelenting-state/
WH Auden says it for Assange:'
I think what could help Assange is if someone from the RW speaks up who has perceptions of being decent and also concerned about USA keeping an appearance of having standards of behaviour that bear scrutiny. That person would suggest that it is a bad idea to not enable Assange's health so he can stand trial and not in the USA's best interests to allow Assange to fall seriously ill or worse.
The USA must try to keep its image alive of being a fair nation that behaves in a superior way to others and acts to keep the Peace in the World. So – something should be said and acted on in this manner and the UK can encourage that and show they have blood in their veins.
This?
'Though USA is very unhappy about the revelations of secrets that WikiLeaks supplied, it does not wish to harm the individual responsible as other lesser civilised countries would do. And so it is transferring Assange (to Australia, to a facility where he can recover his strength with wellbeing) until he is ready to face trial.'
That sort of thing. The USA won't have a high horse to look down from if they don't make an effort to repair their fraying image.
Julian Assange's mother condemns UK government for 'unlawfully slowly killing my son'
https://www.sott.net/article/414092-Julian-Assanges-mother-condemns-UK-government-for-unlawfully-slowly-killing-my-son?fbclid=IwAR0XS8Rm9JF-AaKNcjDTszhn9l7B14NGM7auC1QlT-1FfFVRt1dVvkxJVa8
“They made him very ill by refusing him ANY access to life sustaining fresh air, exercise, sun/VitD or proper medical care for 6 YEARS of illegal Embassy detention
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, wrote that "Julian's case is of major historic significance. It will be remembered as the worst attack on press freedom in our lifetime. The People need to voice their condemnation; it is their politicians, their courts, their police and their prisons that are being abused in order to leave this black stain on history. Please act now to avert this shame".
Unfortunately the mass campaign to vilify Assange has done its work.
Even on this supposedly progressive site, the attack lines are relentlessly repeated
"Melzer went on:
I looked at the letter writing to Assange at Belsem? Prison campaign, it advises to put in a plain sheet of paper and self addressed envelope with UK stamps for reply – of course he woud need a pen or pencil. I have not been able to find NZPost information about how to deal with pre-paid mail in other country's currency. At present I have a question placed yesterday about this but have received no email reply.
I asked about stamps or an international coupon which I imagine there should be available but who knows it seems to me that NZ Post is just managing down the business. If I could buy a pre-paid envelope rather than stamps – that would be practical. I thought they might have replied by now.
"Abstaining from the witchhunt would have classed the dissenter as an enemy. Stalin was supported by fanatics, cynics, sadists and moral cowards."
—-Donald Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him (Viking, 2004)
…deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation… We have seen that on this site frequently and from people who one would expect to have been on the side of exposing the secrets of powerful people and countries willing to destroy others for their purposes.
For good people to do nothing…. Have I got time to be good, what with all the other things I give my time to, as well as my own living tasks for me, my family, friends and community? These sort of unworthy thoughts about my lack of action are I think echoed by quite a number.
We should be out in the streets for Assange, but the attention now is on climate change and receiving a living wage for those who are trying to hold society together and retain the advances that were gained by exhaustive social interaction last century.
Got to keep trying to do it all or the golden bulldozer driven by a robot with such a cheeky, lovable grin in such a cute hat, will scoop us all up. Ever looked at the photos of naked bodies being thrown into burial pits in Holocaust archives? That sort of thing has happened multiple times in even near history. Those images should be in everyone's minds; the reality of what we can do when we have our mind setting on the mark of Cold, Hard, Unfeeling, Uncaring, Unrespecting, Unloving, and Choose your level of Evil – Eager, Sometimes, Neutral, Not sure, Wrestling against it every day.
You're right Grey
Just the sheer numbing pressure of being under the hammer , the struggle to provide a roof and food, and pay the bills is all many can cope with
I'm sorry – I do go on. I understand if its tl:dr. But laying it out occasionally, how someone is feeling I think helps to understand what's going on in society for some people.
The problem is that life presently is so depressing – the constant flow of viciousness, unfairness, violence and the imbalance with meanness high and easy generosity so low; how to create a bright spot, some hope, some comfort takes mental energy, even requires mental exercises. And under austerity with a religious wash, joy is not allowed, unless it is preachy Joy in the Lord.
I am sure the Great Spirit-Creator would be satisfied to see us being just great humans showing respect and receiving it in return; trying to get on together and building a feeling of solidarity and strength to face off the nastiness. That's hard even when the basics of life are under control. I see this blog as a living personification? of what those here with goodwill are reaching for. That's why I get upset at repeat vicious put-downs and faux concerns that have a thorn in them. I can stand argy bargy from those who are trying like me to establish a buzzy beehive of ideas and co-operation to make up for the failings of the one in Wellington at present. I don't think though we will ever see a united group of all parties working for the good of NZ in Wellington. So I see it as important to keep talking about good things, and then doing something so that I don't end up feeling helpless and life a wet noodle. So will soon shut up and go and do something useful for me and have done something else already this morning so that's a tick for me.
We have to keep our eye on civility, honesty, kindness and practicality as these are needed in relationships all round the world. In NZ too many have been vaccinated with poisonous ideas, some sanctimonious, many adopting misanthropy and so finding it exciting to embrace robots (and possibly one day literally as well as figuratively).
They are trying to kill Julian Assange
Martha S. 1 day ago
The so-called journalists of the msm are presstitutes, they write what is expected from them. They sold their soul.
That Mike Who? is one of the best paid presstitutes infesting NZ airways and press.
Chris Marsden demands freedom for Julian Assange
Sad, but self-inflicted.
On the contrary. I'd wager that every argument you've made this past 8 years that Assange's problems are 'self inflicted' is authoritatively debunked here:
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2019-05-27/abuses-show-assange-case-was-never-about-law/
Given that he starts with the "no charges" bullshit that is a mi-statement of the "no proceedings" argument that the british courts threw out of his original extradition hearings, that's a bold wager.
One of the hounds that pollute this site has unloaded another of his complacent, vicious, obscenity-larded tirades. The following captures his motivation just about perfectly…..
yeah the only reason I said anything was because it was just a matter of time before some self-important jerk wrote that people who have the unmitigated gall to suggest that people to be extradited for sexual assault proceedings shouldn't jump bail are "strangely silent".
So no, it changes nothing. He chose to abscond, that's his choice, he wears the consequences. If you're going to do that, copy Biggs or Papillon instead.
Ignoring the role Julian Assange has played in exposing America's misdeeds for some fantasy that Julian committed sexual assault probably has more evidence than the evidence against Julian Assange.
Swedish prosecutors and british courts disagree.
So you are still in denial about the bogus charges against Assange. We've got the rise in denial of routine law. A rise in denial about science, a rise in religious denial, and I'm talking about you, McFlock (lol) the amount of denial. The greater the denial> the greater the darkness.
You think the sexual assault investigation is bogus? Is that because you have any connection to the case, or just because google and confirmation bias have an unhealthy relationship in your mind?
It's because you excel at pointing at flaws in Julian Assanges arguments and are very quiet and deceptive about the flaws in the prosecutions arguments.
What flaws are those?
Sex without consent = rape.
Removing the condom when the condom was requested negates previous consent.
Therefore, if the facts of the case are correct, there's at lease a case to make that rape occurred.
You are still only telling half of the truth. Consent laws was brought into Sweden so to charge adults with raping minors, not adults raping adults. If consent laws was punished as you would prescribe, McFlock 🙂 then the legal age of consent would be 30 or how ever old the victims you allege was raped by Julian Assange. That's it.
Are you arguing that rape is legal in Sweden as long as the person being raped is over a certain age?
I'm saying you can't come up with an argument why I couldn't or even shouldn’t mount a fertile red blooded woman laying next to me bareback.
Because she doesn't want you to.
That sentence only makes sense if I replace "she" with "McFlock."
Keep telling yourself that.
What makes you so sure that I would have violated a law in the situation that I outlined above?
Because if your scenario has anything at all to do with Assange, my previous answer is sufficient. Otherwise there was no relevance to your comment at all and I incorrectly inferred the opposite.
Either case is possible.
In that case of course woman can say no condom no sex. What is unacceptable is a law intended for protecting minors against sex with out a condom because under Swedish law there had to be signs of physical harm, is then used to prosecute a crime from 7 years ago. And the definitions don't even fit current law.
So if she did say "no condom, no sex", and he slying removes the condom or doesn't wear one, is that rape?
You'd have to at least prove that your hypothetical occurred after the 2018 consent law changes. The rape allegations have already been thrown out of EU court once, woke lefties are just pleaing for them to be thrown out of a Swedish court a secound time.
lol you might want to look at the original extradition case again. Well before 2018.
Good one
I love Mezler's response to Jeremy Hunt's assertion that Assange had always been free to leave the Embassy.
After finding that Julian Assange displayed symptoms of “prolonged psychological torture,” UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer has traded barbs with the UK’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt over the WikiLeaks founder’s persecution.
“The UN Special Rapporteur should allow British courts to make their judgments without his interference or inflammatory accusations,” Hunt added.
Melzer quickly fired back in a rather creative fashion, saying: “With all due respect, Sir: Mr Assange was about as ‘free to leave’ as someone sitting on a rubber boat in a sharkpool.” He also reiterated comments that the British justice system had failed to show the “impartiality and objectivity required by the rule of law.”
@McFlock I'm sure he'll get more support once he's faced and beaten the rape charges in a court of law.
If that happens.
I'm equally sure that people here will still think his work with wikileaks should give him a free pass, even if they accept the verdict, if he's found guilty.
It certainly seems that way.
The charges are fantasy charges. The women with whom he had consensual sex were inveigled and bullied into this obscene travesty by the Swedish prosecutor, who was herself under duress from U.S. "diplomats."
If there were any credible charges against him, that would be another matter entirely. Your abuse of those who support this political dissenter and journalist is invalid.
If there were and credible evidence of what you claim, the extradition bid would have failed in 2012.
It's that sort of baseless but categorical claim of Assange's innocence that brings forth the description "rape apologist".
We don't know he's guilty, but nor do we know he is innocent. That is what the courts are for.
Political asylum is a thing McFlock.Its not granted to avoid being charged with a crime.Unless there is strong suspicion the charges are politically motivated
Prominent people asking for asylum are political pawns. Bargaining chips.
... copy Biggs or Papillon instead.
????
They were criminals. Assange is a journalist, an exposer of and dissenter from official lies. Which makes him, of course, an extreme threat and a target for destruction.
He's a guy who jumped bail to avoid extradition to face allegations of criminal activity. Any journalism he might also have undertaken is irrelevant to that.
A bullshit argument that omits the crucial context. It's like blaming someone for breaking their leg jumping out of a third floor window and not mentioning the building was on fire.
Well, not mentioning that he claimed the building was on fire after the home-owners arrived home early and there were questions about whether he was legally permitted to be inside the room from which he jumped. Oh, and that so far the only fire discovered is in the fireplace, well-contained according to fire code standards.
Nope, there's enough ambiguity in your argument to call bulshit. Assanges rape allegations was just a tool for the U.S. to persecute Assange.
Or he's a rapist.
Or every possible permutation, interpretation, or misunderstanding, in between.
By ambiguity I mean the woke have called Assage a rapist so such with out a conviction of rape that it's prejudiced any trail he may have. It's impossible for Assange to receive a fair trial now.
I'm sure his legal team will make that argument, and the courts will consider it.
A bullshit argument that omits the crucial context.
I didn't mention the specific allegations or their context, but they're not exactly crucial to the point that he's a guy who jumped bail to avoid extradition to face allegations of criminal activity. Whatever claims Assange or anyone else has about the allegations being part of a dastardly if somewhat illogical conspiracy, they're just claims, and evidence-free ones at that.
Whatever claims Assange or anyone else has about the allegations being part of a dastardly if somewhat illogical conspiracy, they're just claims, and evidence-free ones at that.
So now you are claiming the Americans are only pretending to be making an extradition case against him?
The alleged conspiracy is that the Swedish extradition request was part of a plot to extradite Assange to the US. There's no evidence of such a plot, and it would have been a pointless plot anyway, as the US could have just requested his extradition from the UK – as it's now done.
Your 'but' negated your previous word and displayed your faux concern.
Enough with your disingenuous utterances.
http://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/msg/1559337637.html
A “sad” case of “self-inflicted” psychological torture?
What could Assange do now to minimise further “self-inflicted” psychological torture?
Not much. How do you change your mind after you jumped off the bridge?
"One little push, and over he went – he made quite a 'splash'." Sad indeed.
@ McFlock , 'self-inflicted'…really how so?
He chose to be a political pawn for Ecuador. Should have jumped on a yacht.
Adrian, if you encountered someone so disgusting on the street, you'd probably ignore him. Don't expect a thoughtful or serious answer to your question.
Yes I know, but it can be amusing to try and follow their mental gymnastics in their convoluted answers sometimes, I guess I am saying they can some times be good for a cheap laugh….only if you are in the mood that is, otherwise they are just annoying and distasteful.
Still hanging on brother. Trump is trying to shake you off and you are still hanging on.
Russian versions of McFlock, meanwhile, tut-tutted and said "Zinoviev inflicted it on himself."
Mprrissey better not to make the argument more distressing. This goes direct to a sensitive nerve of McFlock's and coughing up Stalin who was a mega maniac with a matching power complex is not helpful in the situation. Just disagree will you and not feed the fire. It upsets me my friend.
The point of comparison is the behaviour of Stalin’s henchmen. McFlock and several others on this forum are analogues of Karl Pauker, Lavrenty Beria and the other ghouls who delighted in the suffering of officially designated enemies.
Yeah i just think your exagerrated point might be dropped being a regular here and knowing a bit about the site commenters.
Except that adding in "Russian versions of McFlock, meanwhile […]" shows that there is no "analogue" of me in the actual quote.
I get that you were trying to be a dick and compare Assange's self-chosen Ecuadorean Escapade with the deaths of twenty-odd million people in a totalitarian state run by a tyrant, but the English language (like the rest of reality) didn't quite fit your narrative.
And my gulags will be safe with you around brother. Extra portions of cabbage soup for you.
See, now you're the one claiming to be a totalitarian. Which is the opposite of what mozza was claiming. Try to keep up, Sam, there's a good lad.
No cabbage soup for you is a naughty boy.
Assange might have chosen most of his "Ecuadorean Escapade", but I doubt that he chose the ending, let alone subsequent events – these were imposed, and perhaps more difficult to foresee than the consequences of having "jumped off the bridge".
Still “sad“.
How the fuck did he think it was going to finish? Do cops stop chasing robbers once they reach "safe", all is forgiven? Would he get into a literal "diplomatic bag" and be put on a slow boat to Ecuador?
He had literal months to figure out his absconding plan, and that's what he came up with? No helicopter out to an Ecuadorian freighter 20 miles off shore? No yacht trip? No disguise, false identity, or escape tunnel from the embassy? No, let's take a car ride into the middle of London and stay there.
As well as repeatedly firing the word “rape” around, despite its complete inappropriateness, this tick "McFlock" keeps trying to associate a journalist and political dissident with robbers—yesterday he used the examples of Ronald Biggs and Papillon, for pity's sake.
I guess when you've chosen your line, no matter how wrongheaded and demonstrably false it is, you're committed to it. George W. Bush was like that. And his deputy Tony Bliar. And “Honest John” Howard.
And our friend Wayne.
Rape is what he remains accused of.
Other escaped criminals are resonable "analogues" for someone who absconded from bail for the better part of a decade.
Nah … rape is the bogus charge that was cooked up for political purposes. Every sane reading of the events around his association with the two Swedish women, both before and after, and during the initial interviews … absolutely do not suggest coercion or assault. The first investigator concluded 'no crime of any kind'.
It was only after he left Sweden that someone had the bright idea that what happened could be twisted into this disgusting charade.
Any sane reading suggests that the facts as reported indicate he was at the very least reckless as to whether either of his partners were consenting to him not using a condom.
But you know that's all bogus, so fucking yay, I guess courts are unnecessary, with such omniscient beings amongst us.
It's my impression the vast majority of people, including me, who support Assange have always said that ideally the allegations should be tested in Court.
But everything about this case tells us nothing is ideal, nothing is normal about how this case has been laid and prosecuted. If this was really about Assange's 'recklessness' … and nothing else … he would have done exactly what he said he has stated all along, and traveled back to Sweden to clear his name at Court.
And Steve Jobs should have gone for recognised medical treatments sooner.
People react oddly to things, and in different ways. Sometimes it's panic, or ego, or denial/avoidance. Sometimes people say stuff for so long that they end up believing their own hype.
Could be any of those, could be that a mole in the FBI/CIA secretly emailed him the full outline of a plot to use these allegations to gitmo him, and he panicked and ran to the embassy. Or maybe that was the plan – send him an invented plot so he does something stupid like jumping bail.
Bullshit. For years you've been deflecting from the obvious, that the USA would use any opportunity to extradite him if possible. Assange could not know in advance exactly how, but he had every good reason to suspect that these 'rape' allegations were bogus and a ploy to get him into a legal jurisdiction more amenable to American pressure.
For years you pretended this was just a paranoid fabrication to avoid facing trial in Sweden … yet now the Americans have indeed played their hand openly and you have been proven factually wrong.
For years I've been saying that if he genuinely believed it was all a US plot, why flee from Sweden into the jurisdiction of America's closest ally?
And yes, they showed their hand – in UK courts.
And it's one thing to pretend Sweden is more "amenable" to extradtition to the US than the UK (which is an arguable point full of opinions and maybes), it's another thing entirely to say the Swedes are "amenable" to fabricating rape proceedings in order to be in a position to extradite to the US.
And if it's a genuine sex crime investigation, then he needs to face it.
"How the fuck did he think it was going to finish?" – you sound upset.
Once granted, how do cases of asylum typically end? Sadly?
Normally, people requesting asylum do so after they are in the country in question, or walk into the embassy of the save haven in a third country.
Fleeing into an embassy in the country you are fleeing from seems to have very mixed results.
IMHO the 7 examples in that 2012 list all had 'happy' endings for the asylum seekers. Most of the examples are at least 30 years old.
Assange’s "Escapade" seems an outlier wrt duration and outcome.
“Sad“.
look at the ones where the asylum seekers were seeking asylum from the country the embassy was in.
The happy endings lower drastically in proportion.
And that's if you call the Mariel Boatlift a happy ending.
Not sure the Cardinal’s experience was too happy, either. Got there in the end, but after how long? He must have not had a cat.
Your “cat” reference lends credence to Brigid’s comment @8.3.2.
The linked page lists seven examples where "asylum seekers were seeking asylum from the country the embassy was in." All the asylum seekers apparently got what they asked for, some sooner than others. You believe this applies to Assange – lol, “sad“.
2012: "He left after six days, and subsequently was allowed to go to New York with his wife and two children."
1989: "Noriega surrendered 10 days later after being assured he would not face the death penalty in the United States." A one-time useful ally of the US.
1989: "They lived in the embassy for 13 months before being allowed to go to the United States."
1986: Howard 'escaped' to Russia via their Finnish embassy.
1980: From the information given, it seems likely that the six Cubans granted asylum in Peru's Havana embassy 'got out'.
1966: "She returned to the Soviet Union in 1984, saying she wanted to reunite with her family. Her Soviet citizenship was restored but she left a year later to go back to the U.S. following a family feud."
1956: "lived in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest from 1956 until 1971, when he was allowed to leave for Vienna." The only example in that list of an asylum that lasted (much) longer than Assange's. The US honoured that request for asylum until he was allow to leave.
I think you need to look up Noriega, and what happened to him, and relations with the US before they invaded Panama.
Howard ditched his tail in the US and went to Helsinki, where he claimed asylum in the Soviet Embassy there. He didn't go from the Soviets' Washington embassy. The Finns didn't want him, the yanks did. Similarly, Stalin went to the US embassy in New Delhi. The Indians didn't want here, the Soviets did.
Cuba was happy to get rid of them, and everyone else. And some occupants of its jail cells and mental asylums. Mariel Boatlift.
And the US had skin in the game to protect the Cardinal. He was a PR bonus. He could easily have been abandoned if the chips had fallen the other way.
BTW, I misphrased it.
Assange was fleeing the UK, so went to the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK.
I.e. the location of the embassy and the country being fled were the same country.
That applies to the two Chinese instances (diplomatic horse-trading likely involved), the Cardinal (same), and the Cubans (which Cuba used to clear the country of dissidents and prisoners).
You cited those seven examples in response to my question:
In those seven examples, no asylum seeker was forcibly removed from the embassy that granted asylum. Only Noriega was subsequently incarcerated, after extracting a guarantee and surrendering voluntarily.
If those historical cases are anything to go by then it seems to me that the way Assange's ayslum ended, and his subsequent treatment, are atypical – I'm happy for readers to draw their own conclusions.
Even 14% is not an unexpected return. It happens.
Would you agree that ‘forcible removal’ was unprecedented, and could therefore be regarded as atypical?
No idea.
Maybe if he’d considered his diplomatic worth versus an IMF loan after a change in president, he’d have avoided the embassy in the first place.
"Sad"
It is sad.
Like, outside my work, there's a pigeon that got hit by a car in the street and is now a flat streak of feathery grease. I'm not cut up about it or anything, but as I drive over it there is a sombre reflection on all that we are and become. There's no glee that a disease-encrusted rat of the sky is no more. It was a thing, and now it is a dead thing.
That sort of level of sad, I guess. Where you do that sort of inward "tch" sound, maybe slightly shake your head, and then get on with your day.
Got it – let 'justice' take its course, nothing to see here, just one more “disease-encrusted rat of the sky“, etc.
“Oh dear, how sad, never mind.”
"right".
"Treasury hacking: The time I hacked WINZ – Keith Ng."
Remember the fuss when Keith discovered the "hole" in WINZ? He did the right thing by informing WINZ about the "hole." Bridges didn't did he?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12236128
Report on clever hacking from African sources this time, not Russian! Through email phishing.
Nelson family nearly lose home deposit to African hackers
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113115596/nelson-family-nearly-lose-home-deposit-to-african-hackers
I https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113169105/former-bnz-chair-calls-for-sir-john-key-to-be-forced-to-resign-from-anz
Hmmm.
ANZ New Zealand tries to fob it off as a minor error that occurred. Maybe they can find an ‘emotional junior staffer’ to take the blame. It most certainly wasn’t the Board.
The point is made that this is a fundamental issue of incompetence:
The RBNZ is working in a plan to force the banks in NZ to hold more capital as a bulwark against future financial shocks. The banks have embarked on a campaign of fear-mongering claiming that the RBNZ’s plan would act like “a handbrake” on our economy and ultimately lead to higher (borrowing) costs for customers.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/112832162/reserve-bank–plan-has-significant-negative-consequences-for-our-country-banks?rm=m
The New Zealand Bankers Association's (NZBA) had commissioned a report by research organisation Sapere to counter the RBNZ’s plans.
It seems to me that ANZ New Zealand is trying to have it both ways.
IRONY ALERT! Noelle McCarthy, who laughs at the suffering of political prisoners and sneers at human rights protestors, interviewed someone about "assholes" this morning.
RNZ National, Saturday 1 June 2019
After the 9 a.m. news the breathy, chirpy, Cork-accented Noelle McCarthy interviewed one John Walker, a Canadian who has made a documentary entitled Assholes: A Theory. According to his own publicity material, the film is "a direct response to psychology professor Aaron James' witty bestseller about why some people are assholes and how to deal with them – in an age when the trait seems to be on the rise."
The interview itself turned out to be neither particularly amusing nor insightful. At one point Noelle McCarthy chortled knowingly when he said: "Imagine the situation when one of these assholes is actually running your country!" Perhaps she was thinking of the situation in New Zealand from 2008 to December 2016.
The discussion was interesting, though, for what it left out: a sub-species of asshole who delights in the suffering of others. I sent the laughing hostess the following email….
You forgot the most disgusting assholes of all
Dear Noelle,
In your interview about "assholes" with John Walker this morning, neither of you mentioned a particularly noxious and heinous example of the genus, viz., those unspeakable individuals who laugh at the suffering of political prisoners.
Here's an especially repellent example of that kind of thing:
Hopefully you can interview John Walker another time, and add that kind of vicious asshole to his list.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/chris-trotter-reckons-zimmerman-jury.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/08/noelle-mccarthy-is-doggedly-reigning-in.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2017/12/possibly-most-repellent-panel-pre-show.html
Thumbs down to Radionz for settling on ironic and cynical themes for one, and not promoting some of regular NZ journalists to the role of supporting workers which Noelle seems to be part of. Can we hear NZ voices more please, not all these British and other 5 Eyes imports who are lovely people except for one failing, they are taking a NZ place in their own country's media, and we must have better balance – aim for 80/20 perhaps.
Remembering Flanders and Swann in reverse:
"Political prisoner and outspoken critic of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, Yulije Asanjey has been locked up in one of Russia's worst prisons for many years and may now face death through deliberate neglect of his medical condition
Asanjey became famous in the 2000's through exposing Russian aggression and covert spy activities over several years
Initially imprisoned for what many regard as trumped up charges,Asanjey has been declared the victim of torture by leading UN rapporteurs and experts on torture.
Russia's notorious prison system has long had a deliberate policy of breaking down prisoners so that they either die or are rendered incapable of conducting an effective defence. Denial of access or very limited access to lawyers and medical attention is a common ploy
Journalists from all over the world have expressed their support of Asanjey.
Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch and press freedom campaigners have joined under the common banner Free Asanjey!
The US has applied far reaching economic sanctions on Russia, for its continued flouting of UN rulings and increasing crack down on the free press"
Oh those wicked Russians!
Thank god we're not like that!
Thanks fransesca I have just thought again about doing something through Amnesty International. So will help with Free Asaney.
Have they a continuing campaign for Assange?
Amnesty International Get Involved
No.
Amnesty's only support of Assange has been this
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/09/sweden-should-issue-assurance-it-won-t-extradite-assange-usa/
Thats why my inclusion of them in the mock news report is ironic
Aha got it. But it sounded so true, and is with a reversal of approach. I still think I should support Amnesty I but sometimes the way things are done is surprising. Is Amnesty British – they could pop up to No.10 and sort everything out quite quickly, no, now I think of it they are tied up in knots, choose your own version, over Brexit and also who will be the next Clown Jester for PM.
Here are some knots and how to tie them. This might be the most useful information that arises from the blog today.
https://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/hunting/2012/02/essential-knots-how-tie-20-knots-will-keep-you-alive#page-4
useful link!
Another useful link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/31/us-figure-casualties-iraq-and-syria-hides-true-devastating-scale-civilian-deaths?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=US%20Figure%20of%20Casualties%20in%20Iraq%20and%20Syria%20Hides%20True%2C%20%27Devastating%20Scale%27%20of%20Civilian%20Deaths%2C%20Says%20Amnesty&utm_campaign=Ocasio-Cortez%20and%20Ted%20Cruz%20Agree%20%7C%20News%20%2526%20Views&utm_content=email&utm_source=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-Ocasio-Cortez%20and%20Ted%20Cruz%20Agree%20%7C%20News%20%2526%20Views-_-US%20Figure%20of%20Casualties%20in%20Iraq%20and%20Syria%20Hides%20True%2C%20%27Devastating%20Scale%27%20of%20Civilian%20Deaths%2C%20Says%20Amnesty
Hi Jenny How. Another time that you rush off before telling us what it's about. I’ll set it up under a keyword presumed explanation but it’s discombobulated in it original transition to the post here.
Jenny’s Mystery Link is Something to do with Amnesty
Indeed, many a commenter here seems to think that TS is their personal playground in which they can play by themselves or have one-on-one fun & games. At the same time, they seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are being watched, so to speak, by many silent readers of the site.
Indeed. Many dozens for each of us who speak. All part of the community.
Jenny, as a general rule you can cut off anything after the question mark: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/31/us-figure-casualties-iraq-and-syria-hides-true-devastating-scale-civilian-deaths
Shamnesty, you mean.
https://professorsblogg.com/2014/05/11/swedish-amnesty-international-voted-for-reject-support-to-human-right-issues-on-assange-snowden-and-guantanamo-prisoners/?fbclid=IwAR3oHLkw9dNCUPUPQ339vP93fFLwjtM1t1VzmynLOVefkU28mRneTz5oWg8
In 1969, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In predicted that the Berlin Wall would be torn down in 1989, and that Reagan would be President in 1988.
Starts at the 4:30 mark….
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEK8vZlzR1tPg2WOlZ59r8w
Click the following link to see another outlandish prediction that came true….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/who-will-be-lead-mourner-at-obamas.html
Sovereign Nations
Do Nations have the Right to protect their Citizens, their Laws, their Trade and their Freedoms. ?
Or do they have to put up with illegal and weird Hackers, and Uninvited camera men rumaging for so called "scandal reports" and free feeds day and night.
I think it is proper for a Nation to clean up its own numerous flaws, before pronouncing the wickedness of others.
Can't seem to find this on The Standard:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12236522
BUSINESS
Former bank director calls for Sir John Key to be forced to resign from ANZ
1 Jun, 2019 12:44pm
Here: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01-06-2019/#comment-1623499
And here: https://thestandard.org.nz/bene-bashing/#comment-1623572
Thank you Incognito; I should have known it would be.
Yup. The Nats' current leader is flat-out dodgy, and their four previous were crooked too:
Shipley Corrupt dealings resulting in the collapse of Mainzeal – in court for $6M.
Brash The Hollow Man – had the Exclusive Brethren campaign for him. Also probably a white supremacist.
Key Where the hell do you start???
English Paid his mates $1.7B in the dead of the night.
Bridges Cash for list seats, and now data thief.
What about the next one..?
Collins Happily used Slater to intimidate public servants, ffs.
A shit-show since 1997.
One must say they are consistent though mustn't one! And apparently those with the 3 B's – Beach and bach, BMW and Boat – are quite happy to live in a sort of rotten borough.
I wouldn't be surprised if this has been up before but it sounds good., Stephen Fry on Brexit. Called Brexit: The End Game – The Hidden Money. It starts off with the info that Europe doesn't decide on how to spend UKs money.
He says "Britain can't take back control from the EU; because we never lost it. 99% of UK public expenditure is determined by the UK government." Immigration is different but Britain controls the major amount of immigration which is from outside the EU; 248,000 net migration compared to EU – 74,000 net migration.
Edit:
And TED talk from 2016 – Why Brexit Happened.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcwuBo4PvE0
Alexander Betts (British!) 18 mins
We are embarrassingly unaware of how divided our societies are, and Brexit grew out of a deep, unexamined divide between those that fear globalization and those that embrace it, says social scientist Alexander Betts.
How do we now address that fear as well as growing disillusionment with the political establishment, while refusing to give in to xenophobia and nationalism? Join Betts as he discusses four post-Brexit steps toward a more inclusive world.
That's very good. It’s always ‘follow the money’
Onya, girls.
https://twitter.com/influencer_com_/status/1133140922022023168
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/31/1861668/–These-School-Girls-Just-Aren-t-To-Take-It-Anymore-Jail-The-Molester?
If anyone still believes there are adequate protections for people with disabilities within the End Of Life Choices Bill you really need to read Chris Ford's piece posted in Newsroom.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/05/27/602948/why-i-changed-my-mind-on-euthanasia#
I know that this will put me in the same column as Christian conservatives who also oppose the legislation for moral reasons. Personally, this makes me feel very uneasy given that I hold otherwise progressively social liberal views on issues such as abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTI rights, women’s issues and indigenous issues, etc. Yet, I want to outline from a socialist, progressive and disability rights perspective as to why I have swung my support to the anti-euthanasia camp.
The turning point for me came about a month ago. I saw the report of a meeting hosted by disabled people’s organisation, People First (a group run by and for people with learning/intellectual disabilities) in the Central North Island. At that meeting, access to health care was discussed, as this is a key issue – particularly for people within this segment of the disability community – for whom find it difficult accessing care for many reasons, including attitudinal issues on the part of some medical professionals. This was exemplified by the stories shared at the meeting where some people – who had gone to hospital for treatment – had discovered upon reading their files that they had ‘no resuscitation’ orders attached to them. More problematically, these orders had not been requested by any of the disabled people or their families.
Rosemary, I'm sure your realize that there is no comparison between a decision not to prolong the artificial extension of a person's life and a decision to actively kill a patient.
I'm not sure the likes of David Seymour and Michael Laws appreciate the difference, which is a grave concern.
This passive euthanasia is happening at an ED near you.
My partner was bailed up by an ED supervising doctor with a clipboard a few weeks ago and was told in no uncertain terms that opting for the DNR option made perfectly good sense because, like, 'you know we'd probably break your ribs doing CPR, and you'd end up with pneumonia and its doubtful that ICU would take someone with your co-morbidities any way…' Sign here…
He had rather dramatically passed out. He was confused upon coming round. Yet two hours later and after a battery of health and cognitive function tests he was adjudged to be in tip- top health. They even noted that his leukaemia was so far in remission that heamatology considered him 'cured'. The only 'off' thing was strangely fluctuating blood pressure, which is so common as to be considered normal… for a C5 tetraplegic.
And it was the tetraplegia that tipped him into the 'we'd rather not bother resuscitating your sorry arse' category.
My man, by this time, had resumed normal function and proceeded to 'negotiate' with the clipboard carrying ED doctor with his sheaf of DNR forms that he expected them to try active resuscitation for at least 15-20 minutes.
The 'Slippery Slope' arguments in practice, real life.
Peter Singer and the rest of the Utilitarian ethicists would feel so proud.
Kia ora R&R.
Fashion needs to give way to having clothing and other goods to last decades and not mare minutes in in reality. I can remember when a new pear of jeans last 2 months and then split up the backside.
I say buying secondhand is were the NEW fashion trend needs to go it is all read happening in some Nordic Countries very cool trend that will help preserve our mokopuna futures.
I say making sure that the things we buy are made humanely and environmentally friendly ways that's is the way OUR future has to GO.
I say less is best we have heaps of consumer goods that we don't need that's bad for our future and environment juses blenders pie maker pancakes maker and many other goods that we actually do need.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora hui.
The mental health and the health of our tamariki is of utmost importance.
I agree strongly with Mike's statement that thinking is taking to yourself.
I'm constantly examining past events finding the TRUTH of what occurred and why things occurred.
I agree that we need to give our tamariki confidence to nurture them tell them you love them every day and treating them with love also .I say disciplining correctly is giving them love if you can see tamariki making mistakes doing things wrong you must discipline them so they learn not to do dumb Shit and tell them you love them afterwards. conferdince is giving with aroha
Ka kite ano
Whanau Eco Maori did not like the way shonky was ruining Aotearoa I could see it a mile away his underarm plays.
This story proves it he is a cheat the 00.1 % cheat all the time as they know that a fraction of there money that they gain from cheating will buy them impunity
A sense of unfairness, and wanting to see power held to account, I think has contributed to the explosion of interest in the call for former prime minister Sir John Key, chairman of our biggest bank, to resign.
ANZ's board, led by the former leader of our country, had been signing off on an operational risk model (which works out how much capital the bank needs in case of a shock or economic downturn) that had actually been dumped in
The ANZ board is stocked with people who you might assume would know a thing or three about bank capital.
How did this come about? The Reserve Bank "had encouraged" ANZ to review its attestation process, through which bank directors assess whether the bank is complying with the conditions of its regulations. It was only after this nudge that ANZ discovered the problem.
But before you get hot about it, it's cool. The Reserve Bank made it hold more money in case of a rainy day rather than lend it out in profitable ways like mortgages.
When the Reserve Bank found out, it stripped ANZ of its right to calculate how much risk capital it will hold. Yes, it used to be able to decide this itself.
This means our biggest bank is required to hold a further $277 million, taking it to a total of about $760m in case of bad news.
Kerry McDonald was chairman of BNZ for 12 years until 2008 and also sat on the board of its owners, National Australia Bank from 2005 to 2008.
Ouchie.
Now, ANZ won't like this one bit. This ruling increases the minimum capital ANZ must hold by around 60 per cent.
As Simplicity founder Sam Stubbs has pointed out, one reason profits are so high here is the Australian owned banks have to provide less capital than locally owned banks to support their lending.
So this will hurt ANZ in the wallet. But with the chunky-profits these Aussie banks make here, I think ANZ (who earned a record profit a sniff under $2 billion in the last financial year just in New Zealand) will cope.
MORE FROM
REBECCA STEVENSON • NATIONAL BUSINESS EDITOR
rebecca.stevenson@stuff.co.nz
But no-one has been held to account.
Unlike former BNZ chairman Kerry McDonald, who wrote to Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr to call for heads to roll, I am neither amazed, nor surprised, at the penalty imposed on the bank. Thanks Dad.
He argues that Key, chief executive David Hisco, the highest paid bank executive in New Zealand who is currently off on sick leave, and several others, at ANZ should resign.
The bank's board had been signing this off for years, apparently without noticing if you give them the benefit of the doubt.
And it has to be said, Sir John Key wasn't there in 2014, 2015 or 2016 – joining the bank with his shiny new title smartly after leaving Parliament in 2017.
The board is stocked with people who you might assume would know a thing or three about banking. Ka kite ano p.s I smelt a korori
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/113182741/when-rules-are-merely-suggestions-youre-probably-rich-or-powerful
I agree with Sadiq Khan trump and his alt right m8 are shorting the world political they will make a big mess of our Papatuanuku and take human rights back a hundred years if the leftys don’t get up and stop them
Donald Trump is like a 20th-century fascist, says Sadiq Khan
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has compared the language used by Donald Trump to rally his supporters to that of “the fascists of the 20th century” in an explosive intervention before the US president’s state visit to London that begins on Monday.
Writing in the Observer, Khan condemned the red-carpet treatment being afforded to Trump who, with his wife Melania, will be a guest of the Queen during his three-day stay, which is expected to provoke massive protests in the capital on Tuesday
Khan said: “President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than 70 years.
It’s un-British to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump
Read more
“Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage here in the UK are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support, but with new sinister methods to deliver their message. And they are gaining ground and winning power and influence in places that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/01/donald-trump-like-20th-century-fascist-says-sadiq-khan
Donald Trump is a populist and a nationalist of the largest economy and still most powerful country on earth. Khan is the current Mayor of one city, and an outsider within his own Labour Party.
Trump is not a Nazi, despite all the protestations of Madeline Albright et al. He's just a self-interested thug making bank for his family for a few years before he's turfed next year.
The hard right had their chance in the EU elections last week, and they showed they didn't have what it takes to storm the castle and start dismantling.
Kia Newshub.
The Youth Rainbow community needs to be shown respect as all people do.
I say that the airline should be included in the plan to mitigate climate change this will make them chase alternatives powers for planes.
trump has to remember that every word he says bounces around the world media I sort of know what that is like.
The foxglacia council should have cleaned up the dump mess I say that they have had enough money to clean it up.
It's a hard task getting whare at the minute I would not like to try and rent a whare with tamariki these days you would need to no the owner or have a wand.
That's the way Julain championing the poverty of the Ugandan people and tamariki is bad ka pai M8.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori news.
Eco Maori say those people who have thrown darts at the Rainbow community are only thinking about their public profiles and not the damage they have done to the people of the Rainbow community.
Te Whare tu is helping keep tangata whenua O Aotearoa cultural going strong ka pai I get a sore face knowing that OUR culture is getting te mana back.
I totally agree us Maori men are portrayed as violent thefting thugs that really PISSs Eco Maori off thanks for making films that show Maori men in a cleaner light.
Cool I tau toko you for encouraging Maori to seek a higher education .
Ka kite ano
These are the people who rule our Papatuanuku I hope they can see that most people want a better future for there tamariki and NOW is the time to embrace the change if they don't jump on the Climate Mitigation Waka they will be left in OUR dust time to dump CARBON.
Security at the wharf was drum tight. Amid a sea of secret service personnel, Pompeo was accompanied by the US ambassador to Switzerland, Ed McMullen. The pair looked keen to continue the geopolitical strategizing over canapés.
The secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, was flanked by heavily armed bodyguards as he strode along the jetty. He has attended the last three Bilderberg meetings, turning up for “informal discussions” with a watchful squad of security and staff
Bilderberg has a keen and growing interest in high-tech and AI. Schmidt’s fellow Bilderberg insider Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal and a director of Facebook, was seen arriving with the Swedish physicist and AI expert Sara Mazur ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/02/bilderberg-pompeo-kushner-nato-stoltenberg
Its thanks to people like Blomfield who have the mana to stand up to people like Slater and don't let Slaters intimidating tactics scare them into staying silent.
If it wasn't for people like Blomfield we would not have found out about the $40.000 double dip by a well known MP.
People like Blomfield are few and far between quite rear so Eco Maori is asking everyone to tau toko Blomfield and BUY HIS BOOK he deserves the leftys tau toko.
The case was never about defamation. It has been a way that Blomfield could force his tormenter to verify the fantasies being presented as fact on his now disgraced blog. Slater failed and was finally impaled by a harpoon that he had unleashed, ultimately on himself
As the stories dragged on and I got to know Blomfield better, I told him not to worry. The lies told about him were not as appalling as the truth frequently told about me. But the lies were having a toll and this unwanted fight with a cyber thug with connections to the highest offices in the land was taxing what was an otherwise irrepressible spirit.
Blomfield, it needs to be said, and I am pleased to say it, isn't a man to be dissuaded by slander, intimidation or a gunman discharging a shotgun in his face. For seven years he took Slater and his cohort of degenerates through the long and painful process of a defamation trial.
The case was never about defamation. It has been a way that Blomfield could force his tormenter to verify the fantasies being presented as fact on his now disgraced blog. Slater failed and was finally impaled by a harpoon that he had ka kite ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/113082451/cameron-slaters-thuggish-ways-stymied-after-long-and-painful-defamation-case
Ka pai Pio for championing tiny houses and sustainable live off the land + clean energy solar power we need more tangata like you to champion the cause.
Our Mokopuna futures depend on people like us never giving up the cause.
TV personality Pio Terei is hatching a tiny house plan.
It was a plan that needed some research first. So he hopped on his electric bike and headed off to seek out some of the country's most innovative home owners; Kiwis who've chucked caution and convention to the wind to live sustainably and build the life of their dreams on their own terms. And boy, did he find them, dwelling in everything from teepees to whare uke, from container houses to earth ships.
Those encounters became Off The Grid,an eight episode TV series from Māori Television that aims to inspire viewers to give sustainable living a go. There's the sharing of practical advice and a few laughs along the way. Talking to him a couple of months before the show is set to air, it seems to have the actor, singer and comedian all fired up for a tiny house of his own
Ka kite ano links below P.S I know what you're name means kia ora
https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/celebrity-homes/113111219/off-the-grid-pio-tereis-building-a-tiny-house-and-reckons-you-should-too
https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/pio-terei-im-meant-to-be-here-bro/
Kia kaha to the Youth climate activist it is your futures WE are fighting for go hard it makes me happy to see that the climate is taking center stage now after all the Strikes you have staged.
Youth climate activists set for nationwide rallies ahead of landmark case
Students in Austin, Texas, want you to veg out. Kids in Westport, Connecticut will screen a film. And in rural North Carolina, activists will draw on a toxic spill to commemorate the environmental justice movement. The slogan refers to the landmark court case in Oregon in which 21 youths are suing the United States government over climate change.
Named for Kelsey Juliana, a 23-year-old activist and college student, the case was filed in 2015 and is headed back to court on Tuesday. The campaign to raise its profile – dubbed #IAmJuliana or #AllEyesOnJuliana – is the brainchild of Our Children’s Trust, the organization behind the lawsuit, and Future Coalition, the not-for-profit network forged to empower youth after the Parkland shooting.
A youth activist on the climate crisis: politicians won't step up.
What’s unique about the campaign is what it signals: the infrastructure behind the youth climate movement is growing, decentralizing, and gaining momentum, all while activists set sights on the 2020 election
All of these rallies will be part of an international campaign on Saturday to spotlight environmental issues. Their message: Ka kite ano link below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/31/i-am-juliana-climate-protests-youth-activism
Kia ora Newshub.
Its cool to see more Wahine receiving houners congrats Grame you deserve your tohu houner I remember when the Kiwi players of old going hard At the Sea Eagles Billaria.
The Aviation industry has to change to green fuels or everyone will just use skipe for business meetings they will save money and carbon being burned to protect their children futures.
Its not on that the Richmonds have to fight for custody of their mokopuna from the man who killed their daughter.
Its good that Ken got his houner for his mahi of looking after men who have been abused .
Alex I think there's snow on te monga
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori News.
Congratulations for your win in the Netball.
Kia ora Patsy's for your honorable recognition of your services to he tangata.
I agree the tabaco taxs are hurting Maori in the hip pocket but the amount of people at the hospital with respiratory problems has dropped dramatically we need programs to help our people quit smoking.
Redcross needs more donations to help cope with the huge numbers needing their good help dig deep Whanau you can find the Red Cross site online.
Ka kite ano P.S I will put up a link to Redcross site