http://www.anonews.co/anonymous-david-rockefeller/
Anonymous Message to David Rockefeller 31-12-2016.
Merry Christmas Mr. Rockefeller, this one has been long overdue. We’re proud to say we solved your riddle, and we wish to contact you before you die to share it and help you come to a peaceful understanding of our concerns coming from the people your handiwork is effecting.
Our members are specialists in technology, science, and communication; and the world order you are leading us into is a catastrophic, dire mistake. We represent the natural order, and there is a critical error in the format you’re building your entire foundation on which will stamp permanent negative effects in our biology, to be straightforward and brief.
We will patiently await your response; know that we come in peace and mean nothing but good will for humanity. Please reconsider everything before it is too late to reach you. http://www.anonews.co/anonymous-david-rockefeller/
Anonymous Message to David Rockefeller 31-12-2016.
2017 the year that hopefully heralds in a new deeper level of critical thinking for the progressive Left.
The year when we on the left fully realize that so called liberal news sources like the Guardian, The Washington Post are in fact some of most despicable enemies of progressive change.
2017 the year that people on the Left realize that if their political party still has any ties to the now debunked neo liberal, Laissez-faire free market economic ideological project that has been destroying the the left from the inside, then it is has come time to cut that cancer out, even if it is painful, it must be done to save the host.
2017 is the year we must come to understand that while this cancerous growth exists within the Left movement, that there will never be real change to the political and economic status quo.
The economic ideology of the free market cannot coexist with the ideology of a progressive left movement, that much has been made well and truly clear in 2016.
The economic ideology of the free market cannot coexist with the ideology of a progressive left movement, that much has been made well and truly clear in 2016.
Which simply shows how far from reality you are. A meld of the Douglas principles with some control of its excesses is the way of the future …the only way and moving to the left, further left,is just plain stupid. In anycase with Lange’s timidity/cup of tea we lost an essential part of the Douglas plan. leaving us with the salt without the sugar.
@jcuknz, No I think you are the one out of touch with reality pal.
“A meld of the Douglas principles with some control of its excesses is the way of the future”
Alan Greenspan one of the architects of your ideology admitted himself that humans didn’t respond and act as he thought they would, operating in a Laissez-faire free market environment….leading to the 2008 crash.
Did you just miss the part where the Americans just voted (or not voted against) in a fuckin’ crazy walkin’ talkin’ orange baboon rather than continue with your ideological project?
Did you miss that part where the citizens in the UK, in a fit of rage against your free market ideology said fuck you, and voted Brexit?
If you can’t see the writing on the wall,,, well, I guess we all see what we want to see, even if you just walked into the wall and got a blood nose.
Sorry clip above is a bit buggered, here is Greenspan admitting his ideological world view was wrong, all wrong…. watch or re watch this to give yourself a super boost into 2017… I love this one.
I reckon you’re reading a bit too much into how the fuckin crazy walkin talkin orange baboon is getting a seat in the Oval Office. Where he’ll be the biggest loser ever to occupy the chair, by 3 million votes. Because of a truly fucked up bizarre electoral system.
While there’s certainly a large element of “fuck you” to the status quo in the vote, it’s a massive stretch to suggest it’s a ringing endorsement to abandon capitalism, markets, and individual enterprise in favour of some (undetermined) socialism or communism.
And the people chose Clinton, dimwit. I know you don’t like her (you don’t have to bother telling me why, again), but close to 4 million more voted for her than for your guy.
Plus, the point above was about whether choosing an embodiment of rampant capitalism and classist privilege was actually an anti-capitalist gesture. If it was, it was a bloody stupid one.
Hey, it’ll probably SEEM like 16 years, but unless he rewrites the Constitution, Trump can only serve a max of 8 years (and I predict he won’t get that far).
I completely disagree, it was revealed for all to see, that in the US, Sanders showed that even in the face of active and at time shocking bias from all MSM, and as exposed in the leaks, serious undermining from the structures of his own party, that even with these handicaps, a real progressive socialist message got real traction, and I would also say the same is true in the UK re; Corbyn.
So yes while it is true that the neo liberal establishment, and it’s media wing would rather eat their own babies than have a real swing to a progressive left, citizens across the world have shown they are ready and want to listen to an alternative, and maybe even fight for a change.
The Left needs to answer that call for change quickly, or that space will be filled by the right….as in Trump.
I’m with you Adrian.
Until the left dumps Rogernomics it will not be unified.
Globalisation/ Free Market/Oneworld or whatever you call it ,is really just a race to the bottom for the vast majority, whilst lining the pockets of the unproductive / parasitic money lenders and power brokers ( and war mongers / military might).
We need fair trade not free trade.
Until the Standard gets rids of right wing shills, it will not be a place for the left to congregate.
I suggest a boycott of the worst shills starting today by all left wing commentators.
Hoping for the defeat of religious extremists in Syria – right wing?
Opposing the extreme right and undemocratic Ukrainian regime – right wing
Arguing for moves against the Saudi/ Israeli/US neo-con foreign policy – right wing?
Arguing for the reversal of all neoliberal policies in NZ and the building of a socialist, environmentalist government ( not a Labour version of neoliberalism) – right wing?
Making a case for the severity of the climate issue – right wing?
Left wing is NOT what the Labour Party has been since Douglas.
And that sums you up. Not left, doesn’t want spaces for the left to discuss stuff. No you are the well poisoner, the authoritarian, like the right wing hero’s you adore. The sooner you fuck off overseas to your right wing utopias, the better imo.
[edited] – B
[You know the deal with using real world names where people are using pseudonyms. And what’s with the ad hom nonsense yet again today? It’s boring marty. Please desist] – Bill
You got the nice discussion you wanted yesterday didn’t you Bill with your innocent wee post. Fuck you and this bullshit im not hanging with your crew. To everyone who cares about people – have an empowering year. To tat and his mates – i hope i never hear any of your bullshit ever again. Dont worry ill keep fighting scum like you till i drop dead.
marty i’m with you fully – i’ve watched quite a few spiral down into the trumpster world over the last year and for me TS is not a good place to visit any more
to be fair Paul most of your beef is if with more rationale and balanced lefties who are not Pilger or Rt glove puppets, stop picking on us poor rwnj
You can always start your own site where you and your fellow travellers can congregate, that is if 2 or 3 people can be called a congregation A possible domain names, Doom and Gloom, Assad Vlad and me , I don’t think I just hyper link. RT Glovepuppets ……..
You know – I’m with you there all the way Red.
I’m fed up to the back teeth with all this wonderful Assard, Amazing Putin, only RT tell it like it REALLY is, Fantastic Trump, poor Julian so misunderstood, and let’s all hate Obama, nonsense.
You’re missing out Red, the Doomstead Diner already exists, hosted by the egocentric RE and features the food stockpiling Norman Pagett, Steve Ludlum with an artistic view of the global economy and many other guests on the Collapse Cafe.
I don’t think getting rid of dissenting views is terribly helpful, despite how obnoxious and insufferable some of them can be. If anything, it’s a pertinent reminder of just what we’re opposing, and if you don’t know your enemy, you’re likely to be outmaneuvered more often than not. Sure, there are shills and yes-men, and pious members of the Church of Neo-Liberalism for whom the free market can do no wrong, and they’ll refuse to see common-sense and reason for the rest of forever, rather than admit that perhaps its all been a dreadful mistake responsible for a great deal of unnecessary suffering. But they’re entitled to their views, and they’re the ones who will have to contend with the prickling of their collective consciences… those who exhibit any sort of conscience. (And no, I don’t believe left-wing politics has any sort of monopoly on either compassion or common-sense.)
Besides, I learned a long time ago that arguing with zealots, religious, political or otherwise, is a tedious and frustrating exercise in futility. You can’t badger and belittle someone into changing their mind. As irritating as it may be, they kind of have to arrive at certain conclusions themselves. And some of them never will. You have to accept it and move on, which is not to say that I don’t find some of their utterances both baffling and offensive.
They’re not all bad. James, Alwyn and even BM can sometimes exhibit profound thinking and post insightful comments. I think Fisiani is probably the only one who persists in trolling for outrage, probably for shits and giggles.
Paul won’t be able to answer you for a week. He obviously didn’t read my post including its warnings and paid the price.
I look at it as being a form of inoculation. One of the problems that various people around political systems have is that they don’t get enough exposure to dissenting viewpoints. To be able to argue with someone with a rigid mind you have to be able to formulate the argument against it. To do that you have to be able to hear the argument.
I never expect to convince anyone from any side. However I am prepared to go as far as to sow serious doubt, indulge in serious levels of personal criticism and disdain of others to ram home the point, and to learn on those (fortunately) rare occasions when I am definitely caught on the wrong foot. Just as interesting is watching others fall into the traps that I would have if I’d had bothered to argue.
That happens not only here, but also out in the real world as well. It is just a lot easier to learn here. It is all part of having a lifetime of learning.
But I’m not really interested in having a nice echo chamber here. It tends to be dead boring. What I am prepared to do is to make the behavioural ground somewhat treacherous so that repetitive behaviours tend towards being risky. I find that is a lot better basis to level up the playing field.
So funny .. if you cannot stand the heat of pragmatic ideas you seek to ban them … having no argument to oppose a meld of reality with restrictions on where it leads the wrong way.
The point is that Douglas saved this country from the problems which affect most of the world but was stopped from introducing the safeguards which result in the problems affecting this country..
There is absolutely no future for Labour if it continues to go left. One can have one’s ideals but pragmatists know if you want to govern you need the center ground. Hence my belief in a meld.
You have to remember that Douglas wanted to chop *EVERYTHING*. That is why Lange had to intervene.
I have to admit though, the changes brought in between 84-87 were minor compared to the changes brought in between 1987 and 1996. The poor and unemployed managed to hang in there through a combination of generous redundancy payouts and a welfare system that still paid a decent amount. Things didnt really go to shit until 1991 when Ruth Richardson implemented austerity 2 decades before the UK decided to go back to a Walpole-era state. Market rents for state housing, benefit cuts, the chopping of home ownership subsidies, as well the changes in the health system did the worse damage, plus the privatisation and deregulation of utilities was backloaded to 1994-1998.
Privatisation didnt really kick off on a serious basis until about 1988. I think the SOE system was a positive move on balance,though the commercial aspect was emphasised too much.
“2017 the year that hopefully heralds in a new deeper level of critical thinking for the progressive Left.
The year when we on the left fully realize that so called liberal news sources like the Guardian, The Washington Post are in fact some of most despicable enemies of progressive change.”
Adrian Thornton
Adrian you still have Amy Goodman and Democracy Now. Unless of course you also think that DN and Goodman among some of the most despicable enemies of progressive change.
Thanks Jenny, I have been a Democracy Now! listener for a few years now, and no of course I don’t think DN is a enemy of change, why would you say that? DN is probably one of the best news sources out there, albeit quite American centric at times.
A couple of other news and information sources I find useful
Law and Disorder Radio… http://lawanddisorder.org/
FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, incorporating the Counterspin podcast http://fair.org/
Behind the News with Doug Henwood, some great interviews. https://kpfa.org/program/behind-the-news/
Against the Grain, some serious indepth left wing and progressive analysis.. very good https://kpfa.org/program/against-the-grain/
“I have been a Democracy Now! listener for a few years now, and no of course I don’t think DN is a enemy of change, why would you say that?
Adrian Thornton
My apologies Adrien. When I read you lumping The Guardian amongst those you consider to be a despicable enemy of progressive change. I assumed it was because The Guardian and Democracy Now share the same Editorial line on the Syrian regime, the Arab Spring and the Syrian revolution.
Personally I find the Guardian to be a very reliable and reputable source especially when it comes to reporting climate change issues.
Maybe, to clear up my confusion, you could detail why you think The Guardian is a despicable enemy of progressive change.
Cheers Jenny
Wishing a happy new year to you and your loved ones.
The guardian has a few good writers but in recent years it’s editorial line seems to have been captured by neoliberal and neo-con thinking.
It’s reporting of the Scottish referendum. The events in the Ukraine, Brexit, the US election and Syria show it has become another establishment puppet.
paul we appreciate your position, we get it, we know who you are a fan boy of in a media sense, can we please FFS not have it rammed down our throats day in day out again 2017 , you keep repeating and posting the same shite in a repetitive cycle and to be honest mate it has got beyond boring, more bordering on psychotic OCD
[lprent: Snap 🙂 You have a week of peace. He failed to read my post and the warning at the end of it. ]
You know it’s not often I agree with your Red, but on this I agree. I’m sick of the scrolling past the same stuff for days on end to read peoples comments.
….I could go on and on and give you links infinitum, but you get the point.
Now this is a very serious problem for us all, because with so many smart progressives still (bizarrely) thinking and quoting these news outlets as legitimate political news sources, the Left remains and will remain divided and impotent, all the while, the right is gaining ground all around us.
It seems to me that the establishment (so called) liberal media, would rather have the right wing in ascendancy, than a real progressive left socialist project, this is judging them by their own words and their own actions over the previous 12 months.
It is just a sad truth, I used to love the Guardian myself, but facts are facts.
So the news on TV1 last night was that Max Key was going to play the New Year in on Sky Tower just before the fireworks display.
I can’t see it being reported very much today by most MSM websites – they just talk about the Sky Tower fireworks display.
On TV1 they said preparation for the Sky Tower display began 5 months ago. An indication that 5 months John Key was still planning to be PM by 1st January?
Who cares what TV1 says … time to get over your antipathy of the Key clan and get on with what is relevant to 2017…. I was fast asleep when all that rubbish was going on.
Exactly
Terry Pratchett
“It is important that we know where we come from, because if you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”
Tell me something…as a talented person yourself (you must be because they hired you to troll here as a professional de- railer) do you get paid double time and a day in lieu for working on a statutory holiday?
Again with the “you must be paid” troll posted as a “fact”.
Try another record for 2017. It’s not so much that it’s boring (which it is). It’s more that it makes you look stupid and all part of the tin foil hat club.
– Steven Joyce unveils a large privatisation/outsourcing program in this coming Budget.
– At least 4 more MPs announce their standing down at the 2017 election.
– Gareth Morgan recruits Bernard Hickey and Shemanual Equaib (sp?), and other prominent technocrats to the TOP Party, but it just misses the 5% threshold.
– John Tamihere and Shane Jones announce their initention to stand in the 2017 election, but not for Labour.
– Sky announces its plan to sell Prime TV an an effort to jumpstart its failed merger with Vodafone
– NZME and Mediaworks offer to sell a number of radio station to a third party in return for ComCom approval of their merger
– At least 1 assassination attempt is made on Donald Trump
– The All Blacks defeat the Lions in the upcoming series 2-1, but the Lions win all their matches against the Super 15 sides.
– In his valedictory speech, John Key expresses regret for pledging not to tighten eligibility for National Superannuation, he also gets a column in a prominent newspaper, “Key Points” which he outlines a number of hard right policy prescriptions.
– “Arise, Sir John Key”.
– The election will be close, with a narrow Labour/Greens win that is not finalised till after the specials are counted, the Greens will be forced to accept a Coalition agreement that they get bugger all out of, but they sign because they do not want another 3 years in opposition. Winston NZ/First will also get into Parliament, but will not be in the coalition, Peters will announce that he is stepping down in 2020.
It won’t be like that.
John Key will receive the Order of New Zealand in next years New Year Honours.
That award does not have the honorific ‘Sir’ attached.
He will receive a Knight of the Garter from the Queen at the same time. That one does rate a ‘Sir’.
Frankly I can’t see anything being awarded to him after Nact lose the 2017 election.
So it’s before or nothing. As I understand it the government of the day does the “Sir” recommending to the Queen.
But I am in awe of such a detailed time table – has this already been organised with Bill English? Could this also be known as “the fix is already in? “???
” I can’t see anything being awarded to him after Nact lose the 2017 election”.
Do you really think that that miserable little rat-bag Little would be such a prick in the unlikely event he became PM?
After all the Key Government gave the award to Clark, and a knighthood to Cullen. They were magnanimous I suppose. Even the Clark Government made Bolger a member of the Order of New Zealand. Would a Little Government really be so little minded?
” As I understand it the government of the day does the “Sir” recommending to the Queen”
Not for the Garter. From http://www.heraldicsculptor.com/Garters.html
“appointment to the order is solely at the discretion of the British monarch”
New Zealand has only had two, to date. Holyoake and Hillary.
Actually “the fix being in” is the knife being sharpened by Grant Robertson to slip into Little’s back after National lead the next Government following the election.
The timetable is merely reflecting the fact that such awards are normally made after the MP leaves Parliament. See Goff’s award.
While I think it probable that John Key will get whatever he gets at Queens Birthday, in the event he did not, it would be extraordinary for a different govt to deliberately not give him an honour.
That would be against all precedent going back many decades. Helen Clark got an ONZ from National, Sir Michael Cullen got a KNZM.
Andrew Little, if he was the PM, would simply be not that small minded. And you saw that in his quite generous remarks when John Key stepped down.
While that type of civility might annoy many Standardnista’s, it is a desirable and perhaps a necessary part of constitutional govt to ensure neither side acts out of spite and vengeance when they have their time in office.
The US has got altogether too near that space, and most people think that they are poorer for it.
Goodness me. I agree with you Wayne. I guess there is room for integrity and old fashioned courtesy on both sides of the political equation. It would be very nice to see some of the old fashioned courtesies of yesteryear return to political life everywhere. The world would not be in the turmoil it is today if that was the case.
How interesting Wayne – the right spend considerable time attacking the people who criticize them ( with no need to be civil apparently! Paula Bennett releasing personal details of people who commented on a policy – and the whole of “dirty politics” ) but this is now “a bad thing” according to you.
Maybe Nact could get busy and practice what you suggest?
I look forward to the wholesale apologies from the right along with appropriate restitution for all the times they have attacked people who have done nothing personally to deserve it.
So if John wants his “sir” rather than the classless ONZ (Labour may be happy to recommend that) I can’t see us having too early an election – which was what the post was about.
As to generous – JK has been far too generous with my tax money paying for public services by dodgy corporates and running up a record debt so high earners can have tax cuts.
No 8.”Andrew Little will be accused of smiling. An internal Labour Party investigation will determine that he was in fact just grimacing in an unusual manner.”
2017 got off to a great start when Celtic trounced a team calling itself “Rangers” and moved 19 points clear at the top of the SPFL. That really felt good. Some things in life are more important than politics. Good friends, family, and supporting the best team. That’s me. Enjoy 2017. It looks like its going to be a great year.
Maybe the government (and any possible Labour/Greeen government of the future) are more interested in giving smokers and those who live with them a fair go in terms of greater life expectancy..?
While that may benefit those that manage to quit, it leaves those that don’t far worse off.
Greater life expectancy is also related to ones diet. Therefore, fiscally punishing smokers robs them of their disposable income to maintain a healthy diet. Resulting in compounding the problem as they continue to smoke and have less for things like heating and food.
You are clutching at straws there Extremist. Smoking is probably the biggest hindrance to any health program. A better solution, if you can’t give up, would be to cut back wouldn’t it?
“Smoking is probably the biggest hindrance to any health program”
So are a number of things sold in your local supermarket.
This is far from the first tobacco tax increase, thus a number of smokers have already cut down as far as they handle. While some others have turned to more desperate and underhanded measures.
We are largely dealing with the hardcore smokers now.
As for clutching at straws, you need to widen your perspective.
A number of smokers are currently struggling to get by.
If they continue to smoke (and many will) this tax increase will force them to cut back on the essentials even more.
Keep in mind we are dealing with a highly addictive substance. And a good number of smokers come from a lower social economic background (making them potential Labour supporters seeking that fairer go).
For tens of thousands that may be true. Even Pokemon go is looked at as a kind of anti depressant drug. Must people don’t understand that for every 20 cents you save on cheap prescription drugs you lose a dollar in wages.
On average a smoker who stops gets another six years of pension. Stopping smoking is always a good thing. Annual tax increases are part of the solution.
Would it be feasible for those lovely caring tobacco industry people to manufacture a far less dangerous fag with less tar, and the other nasty chemicals, but with ‘flavour’ and nicotine?
Good point Garibaldi though better all round to give it up completely as i managed in 1974 … ten years before I had my heart quad bypass.
My smoking addiction, which I probably still have but doesn’t trouble me these day, consisted of two things the sucking and the inhaling.
With a bad attack of a cold I gave up smoking for two or three days and as I recovered I simply sucked but didn’t light up. Trouble was helpful folk kept offering to light my cig . I spotted a miniature ‘alpine pipe’ and bought it to suck … obviously no tobacco to light up so no more ‘offers’.
After two or three months I had bit through the pipe stem and filed another grip for my teeth. another few months and I was happy to let the pipe go.
I hope my story will help a smoking addict kick the habit because even at twenty a day and particularly at today’s prices I have been considerably richer financially and health wise .
Come ‘bypass’ in 1984 I felt for fellow patients as they tried to fool the nurses by ducking out of the ward … but you could smell it on them when they returned. Really sad.
The best way to crack down on smoking is to nationalise the tobacco companies and close them down over the next 10 years, selling the plant for scrap and the buildings/land to recover the costs. Then fully legalise e-cigarettes.
What really would be best would be if governments stopped seeing it as their job to “crack down” on people’s recreational drug use. As to your suggestion: excellent from the gangs’ point of view, not so hot for those of us who aren’t gang members.
considering very little tobacco is manufactured here legallly, fk all land or plant to sell, so dumb plan, BAT 75 pc market share and import every thing
I never said anything about banning tobacco, but anything has to be better than imposing further financial strain on the poor, and demonising those who smoke for various reasons — ie stress relief, food substitute, etc.
But we do need to fully legalise e-cigarettes. They are the future IMO.
The twelfth day around Christmas and a finale of quotes on Friendship. And that is important to look for, and to find the genuine article.
To look for the good in people, and try to resist calling people you don’t agree with a piece of pus. I think handle it to try to limit responses to feisty people, one poke and then leave the aggro to settle.
Frankly I believe that the blog is being so constantly aggravated by provocative poisonous RW that don’t give a damn about a better world for all, that ithe blog’s good effect and value is being severely blunted. Limiting comment numbers per day would be one way of limiting the pollution, and everyone would be forced to limit their sayings or miss the chance for something meaningful. And this would deter them from starting flame wars because it would be wasting their opportunities to put forward their hopefully, intelligent, witty opinions.
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.
Irish proverb
Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.
Swedish proverb
Keep gude company, and you’ll be counted one of them.
Scottish proverb
Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul!
Sweetener of life! and solder of society!
Robert Blair
A friend is, as it were, a second self.
Cicero
We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us,
but for ours to amuse them.
Evelyn Waugh
A true friend stabs you in the front.
Oscar Wilde
Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
Victor Borge
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I predict that 2017 will be the year that deep-rooted and endemic corruption arising from the Neo-liberal private procurement model for public services (at local and central government) will be finally exposed.
As a result – I predict that the Neo-liberal myth, that ‘public is bad – private is good’, will be finally shattered, as the facts and evidence prove that the private procurement model, (contracting out of public services), is more costly, a less effective use of public (tax and rates) monies, and it breeds corruption.
That there are, in my view, billion$ of public monies being spent on ‘corporate welfare’, which could (and should) be spent on ‘people’s welfare’ – particularly our most vulnerable.
I predict that ‘the books’ will be opened, and the Public Records Act 2005, WILL be implemented and enforced, starting with Auckland Transport, and the following details of awarded contracts WILL be made available for public scrutiny:
* The unique contract number.
* The name of the consultant /contractor.
* A brief description of the scope of the contract.
* Contract start /finish dates.
* The exact dollar value of each and every contract – including those sub-contracted.
* How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
In order to help achieve this –
I shall be standing as an
‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption’ Independent candidate in the upcoming Mt Albert by-election.
If you would like to help – please send me a personal message on Facebook.
Do you still really support the despotic junta in Syria that is responsible for over 400,000 deaths mostly from aerial bombardment?
If you do, I have to ask you; Are you and your new neo-fascist mates planning to disrupt the Mt Albert by-election by picketing the Green Party candidate?
Just like you have been harrassing the Syrian refugees?
In New Zealand, our democratic rights as citizens to freedom of expression and peaceful protest are protected by law under the NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990.
From your non-answer Penny, can I take it that you don’t intend to break any laws, but that you do intend, to the limit the law allows disrupt the Mt Albert by-election by harrassing the Green Party candidate?
A small faction of people ended up clashing with the Syrian Solidarity NZ group.
Some of them were wearing baseball caps with the slogan “Make America Great Again”, as worn by US President-elect Donald Trump.
But Paul, yesterday you were claiming Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk were the authoritative sources on the White Helmets, not the political activists at Alternet and Counterpunch. Did you finally notice that neither Cockburn nor Fisk actually make the claims you imply they do?
Alternet and Counterpunch aren’t authoritative sources on anything – in fact, the Counterpunch piece even offers regime propaganda sources like Vanessa Beeley, Solidarity with Syria and Russia Today as “raising investigation-based questions” about the White Helmets, rather than the more accurate “promoting the regime’s talking points.”
Any force that deliberately targets ambulances, search and rescue services and hospitals to quell and intimidate their opponents, whatever the pretext, are by definition psychopathic, and under the Geneva conventions, war criminals.
The White Helmets – here are a few facts that you need to know.
Share this to your family and friends who subsist on Western corporate media:
* The White Helmets, also called Syria Civil Defence, are not who they claim to be.
The group is not Syrian; it was created with USA/UK funding under the supervision of a British military contractor in 2013 in Turkey.
* The name “Syria Civil Defence” was stolen from the legitimate Syrian organization of the same name.
The authentic Syria Civil Defence was founded in 1953 and is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization (1958).
* The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance.
* The NATO White Helmets are primarily a media campaign to support the ‘regime change’ goals of the USA and allies.
After being founded by security contractor James LeMesurier, the group was “branded” as the White Helmets in 2014 by a marketing company called “The Syria Campaign” managed out of New York by non-Syrians such as Anna Nolan. “The Syria Campaign” was itself “incubated” by another marketing company named “Purpose”.
……”
Kind regards
Penny Bright
PS: Yes – I was appalled to hear Green MP Julie-Ann Genter publicly support the ‘White Helmets’ at a recent anti-Assad / anti-Russia demonstration in Auckland.
Morrissey, Do you dispute the fact that the destruction evidenced in the video was committed by the Assad regime?
Since the total destruction of this city described as “The Capital of the revolution” was undoubtably committed by the regime, and that Paul and yourself support that regime, I don’t think the question is “ridiculous” or “pointless” to give your answer, I am sure our readers would all like to know.
Do you Morrisey and Paul support the methods used by the regime to quell the uprising?
The fact that you refuse to answer these questions. Exposes the depth of either your hypocrisy and/or depravity.
And the white helmets have been in existence for a total of 3 years, for about as long as a war has been going on. Hmm?? The real Syrian Civil Defence was formed in 1953 and through western media we hear nothing about, it’s all the white helmets..
Very few (if any) residents in East Aleppo ever saw them perform any actual rescue work.
You spout these assertions as though they were generally-agreed commonplaces. The fact is, you have no basis for that claim beyond fellow conspiracy theorists and regime propaganda. And even if it were true, it would leave open the not-insignificant question of who the fuck else you think was doing emergency response during the siege. This really is contemptible stuff.
For the love of God C.V. Psych Milt has a point. They were actually boots on the ground trying to help people, it’s just plain wrong to condemn them for trying to help.
6 years ago all this Alepo bullshit kicked off with a series of 13 suicide bombings, Assades response was America is funding terrorism. The western response was you lie. The Wikileaks says Saudi sponsors ISIS.
And it’s been a gradual decay of western debate ever since.
They were actually boots on the ground trying to help people, it’s just plain wrong to condemn them for trying to help.
No; the White Helmets were propaganda actors aligned with the terrorist rebels.
They weren’t actual civil defence, they had no presence independent of terrorist fighters, eg they never performed rescues in government held areas of western Aleppo that were under attack from the rebels, they never assisted the Syrian Arab Army in helping rescue civilians.
…they never performed rescues in government held areas of western Aleppo that were under attack from the rebels, they never assisted the Syrian Arab Army in helping rescue civilians.
Uh, duh-uh – the regime has its own civil defence operating in regime-held areas, and any of these guys operating there or trying to “assist the Syrian Arab Army” would be arrested immediately as terrorists and tortured for details of where to find all their friends. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s a civil war happening in Syria.
Honestly Milt. This isn’t some hurricane to mope up after. It’s a war zone. Even the US bombed these guys. And when some jihadi wana be disobeys US orders. The Pentagon organises an attack starting with a bombing campaign so stupid moderate rebels form up on the front lines and America says, nah boi, no bombs today. And those rebels get fucked beyond all recognition, then the US points the finger and says see, Assad bad, US good. Your being played by the White House bro.
If you are trying to find a moral high ground out of all this, there isn’t any.
Which is why Russia and Iran finally stepped in, in a big way, to sort out the US/NATO/Turkish run “Assad must go” regime change proxy war programme in Syria.
it would leave open the not-insignificant question of who the fuck else you think was doing emergency response during the siege.
Maybe it was the real Syria Civil Defence? The one that became a member of the International Civil Defence Organisation in 1972 and appears to have some international street cred. The white helmets came into existence 41 years later, so it can’t be them.
Maybe the regime was providing civil defence services within the rebel-held areas it was busy bombarding? And doing it invisibly so that no-one knew it was happening? I can’t stop the loons at Counterpunch from putting deranged shit on the web, but it would be nice if the people reading it applied their brains while doing so.
No, it’s attack-the-logic-fail time. Ridiculing the source of the logic fail was an aside.
I do know quite well why the official civil defence was ignored in media coverage about the siege of east Aleppo – it’s because the regime doesn’t operate emergency services in rebel-held areas, for fairly obvious reasons. That’s also the reason why unofficial first response groups were set up in the first place. No amount of peddling conspiracy theories about a “narrative” can alter that.
Now that East Aleppo has been liberated [sic], the White Helmets have basically disappeared with the rebels.
No fucking shit, Sherlock? Now that the bombardment’s stopped and the winners are keen to apply torture or summary execution to anyone involved in making them look bad these last few years, the White Helmets aren’t holding any parades in the streets? It’s just plain unfathomable!
The Russians and the Assad government allowed rebels and their sympathisers to peacefully leave Aleppo with their light arms and head away to ISIS held territory.
Therefore any summary executions and ad hoc reprisals by the Syrian Arab Army in Aleppo are likely to be minimal.
Remember, unlike the foreign Islamist fighters, many members of the Syrian Arab Army actually grew up and lived in Aleppo – it is their home town and their home neighbourhoods that they have liberated.
BTW there are plenty of statements from Eastern Aleppo residents that the rebels when in charge performed many summary executions, torture, shooting of civilians who tried to leave the area, etc.
Irrelevant. My points were:
1. Now that there’s no bombardment, it follows that there’s no guys in white helmets digging people out of the rubble after a bombardment.
2. These guys have actively made the regime look bad in the international media. They’re not going to share your sanguine appraisal of the likelihood of reprisals for that.
1. Now that there’s no bombardment, it follows that there’s no guys in white helmets digging people out of the rubble after a bombardment.
You’re clearly not that smart if you think that legitimate Civil Defence activities cease when the bombs stop falling.
Because that’s when legitimate civil defence efforts START.
Distributing emergency supplies, identifying individuals and families with medical needs, ensuring that communities are kept informed, checking and clearing each and every apartment in every apartment block for people who are wounded or need any other help.
So where are all these White Helmets doing all these necessary Civil Defence activities?
For the benefit of any new readers, the Public Records Act does not control making available to the public any information about either central or local government dealings. That is instead a function of the Official Information Act (OIA) and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).
(1) Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.
______________________
Have you studied the 225 page reasons for the decision of Justice Sally Fitzgerald in the unprecedented bribery and corruption conviction of a corrupt contractor and two corrupt public officials, who both worked for Rodney District Council and then Auckland Transport?
It shows what happens when you don’t have full and accurate public records, and there is a ‘culture of collaboration’ between public officials and contractors?
$1.2 million in bribes – that’s just between one corrupt public official and one corrupt contractor.
This Judgment, in my view, completely vindicates what I’ve been saying for years about corruption in New Zealand.
I look forward to more people paying attention.
Some are.
Have you read the two latest investigative articles about corruption in the NBR by Karyn Scherer?
As noted above, “made available for public scrutiny” is not a function of the Public Records Act. Penny has been told this many, many times now. The public deserve better than wilful ignorance.
Would you like to share with us the basis for your supposed ‘expertise’ on the Public Records Act 2005?
And share with us, if you would, information which pertains to any consultancy work you may have obtained from Auckland Council or any Auckland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), if that is the case?
Give me a break Penny, for a self styled anti-corruption campaigner you openly support one of the most corrupt and murderous political family dynasties on the planet. First equal with the Kim’s of North Korea.
I have now read much of the Judge’s reasoning. It becomes clear that successful prosecutions were possible only because the records held by public agencies including AT were kept in accordance with the Public Records Act. Nothing in that law stops somebody lying on a Conflict of Interest form, but preserving the evidence can be helpful later.
you have to watch out for Marama Fox. She is a hardline social conservative who opposes homosexuality, abortion, decriminalization of cannabis use, sex education in school, and supports the religous indocrination of South Auckland youth via charter schools.
millsy
Do you have a handy link about Marama Fox detailing all that stuff? She is a strong speaker and though I had heard her say some RW style things, I did hope that she would be a progressive voice for Maori.
There is a better than even chance of this happening, IMO, particularly if National plays the shell game I think it is. A low party vote means Little may not even get back into Parliament.
The IP addresses that DHS provided may have been used for an attack by a state actor like Russia. But they don’t appear to provide any association with Russia. They are probably used by a wide range of other malicious actors, especially the 15% of IP addresses that are Tor exit nodes.
The malware sample is old, widely used and appears to be Ukrainian. It has no apparent relationship with Russian intelligence and it would be an indicator of compromise for any website.
You can find a public repository containing the data used in this report on github.
As always I welcome your comments. Please note that I will delete any political comments. Our goal in this report is to merely analyze the data DHS provided and share our findings.
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The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
http://www.anonews.co/anonymous-david-rockefeller/
Anonymous Message to David Rockefeller 31-12-2016.
Merry Christmas Mr. Rockefeller, this one has been long overdue. We’re proud to say we solved your riddle, and we wish to contact you before you die to share it and help you come to a peaceful understanding of our concerns coming from the people your handiwork is effecting.
Our members are specialists in technology, science, and communication; and the world order you are leading us into is a catastrophic, dire mistake. We represent the natural order, and there is a critical error in the format you’re building your entire foundation on which will stamp permanent negative effects in our biology, to be straightforward and brief.
We will patiently await your response; know that we come in peace and mean nothing but good will for humanity. Please reconsider everything before it is too late to reach you.
http://www.anonews.co/anonymous-david-rockefeller/
Anonymous Message to David Rockefeller 31-12-2016.
2017 the year that hopefully heralds in a new deeper level of critical thinking for the progressive Left.
The year when we on the left fully realize that so called liberal news sources like the Guardian, The Washington Post are in fact some of most despicable enemies of progressive change.
2017 the year that people on the Left realize that if their political party still has any ties to the now debunked neo liberal, Laissez-faire free market economic ideological project that has been destroying the the left from the inside, then it is has come time to cut that cancer out, even if it is painful, it must be done to save the host.
2017 is the year we must come to understand that while this cancerous growth exists within the Left movement, that there will never be real change to the political and economic status quo.
The economic ideology of the free market cannot coexist with the ideology of a progressive left movement, that much has been made well and truly clear in 2016.
Turn Labour Left 2017
The economic ideology of the free market cannot coexist with the ideology of a progressive left movement, that much has been made well and truly clear in 2016.
Yep
Which simply shows how far from reality you are. A meld of the Douglas principles with some control of its excesses is the way of the future …the only way and moving to the left, further left,is just plain stupid. In anycase with Lange’s timidity/cup of tea we lost an essential part of the Douglas plan. leaving us with the salt without the sugar.
@jcuknz, No I think you are the one out of touch with reality pal.
“A meld of the Douglas principles with some control of its excesses is the way of the future”
Alan Greenspan one of the architects of your ideology admitted himself that humans didn’t respond and act as he thought they would, operating in a Laissez-faire free market environment….leading to the 2008 crash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWen53eqmJo
Did you just miss the part where the Americans just voted (or not voted against) in a fuckin’ crazy walkin’ talkin’ orange baboon rather than continue with your ideological project?
Did you miss that part where the citizens in the UK, in a fit of rage against your free market ideology said fuck you, and voted Brexit?
If you can’t see the writing on the wall,,, well, I guess we all see what we want to see, even if you just walked into the wall and got a blood nose.
Sorry clip above is a bit buggered, here is Greenspan admitting his ideological world view was wrong, all wrong…. watch or re watch this to give yourself a super boost into 2017… I love this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5lZPWNFizQ
I reckon you’re reading a bit too much into how the fuckin crazy walkin talkin orange baboon is getting a seat in the Oval Office. Where he’ll be the biggest loser ever to occupy the chair, by 3 million votes. Because of a truly fucked up bizarre electoral system.
While there’s certainly a large element of “fuck you” to the status quo in the vote, it’s a massive stretch to suggest it’s a ringing endorsement to abandon capitalism, markets, and individual enterprise in favour of some (undetermined) socialism or communism.
The states within a federated republic of individual states overwhelmingly chose Trump. That’s all you need to know.
And the people chose Clinton, dimwit. I know you don’t like her (you don’t have to bother telling me why, again), but close to 4 million more voted for her than for your guy.
Plus, the point above was about whether choosing an embodiment of rampant capitalism and classist privilege was actually an anti-capitalist gesture. If it was, it was a bloody stupid one.
Let Calfornia secceed then. That’ll return the popular vote to Trump by a million.
Second point unanswered, I see. (Don’t bother to try – it’s unanswerable.)
BTW, I’m off – some of us have lives. 🙂
20 days to 16 years of Trump rule 🙂
Hey, it’ll probably SEEM like 16 years, but unless he rewrites the Constitution, Trump can only serve a max of 8 years (and I predict he won’t get that far).
Perhaps if you stop using theory to build out models and start using data you wouldn’t come across as such an ass hole
Anyone with a calculator can work it out.
This chat board is glitchy on my end. I’d actually tried replying to Marty Mars iirc. Hence my sparse participation here.
I was thinking that there is no evidence that economies achieve equilibrium. In fact in places like Pokeno capital decays.
Any happy New Years viper
To you too mate, from the Waikouiti New Years Day races. Best regards.
PS indeed, on the contrary, the empirical evidence is hugely against economic equilibrium in all except the most artificial circumstances
I completely disagree, it was revealed for all to see, that in the US, Sanders showed that even in the face of active and at time shocking bias from all MSM, and as exposed in the leaks, serious undermining from the structures of his own party, that even with these handicaps, a real progressive socialist message got real traction, and I would also say the same is true in the UK re; Corbyn.
So yes while it is true that the neo liberal establishment, and it’s media wing would rather eat their own babies than have a real swing to a progressive left, citizens across the world have shown they are ready and want to listen to an alternative, and maybe even fight for a change.
The Left needs to answer that call for change quickly, or that space will be filled by the right….as in Trump.
But what controls are you proposing?
Without Lange’s cup of tea everything would have been privatised.
I’m with you Adrian.
Until the left dumps Rogernomics it will not be unified.
Globalisation/ Free Market/Oneworld or whatever you call it ,is really just a race to the bottom for the vast majority, whilst lining the pockets of the unproductive / parasitic money lenders and power brokers ( and war mongers / military might).
We need fair trade not free trade.
Until the Standard gets rids of right wing shills, it will not be a place for the left to congregate.
I suggest a boycott of the worst shills starting today by all left wing commentators.
What a great plan.
Then you can start boycotting other lefties who are not as left as you want them to be.
Then you can boycott any leftie who perhaps has a differing view then your good self on any matter.
In the end you end up with a sad echo chamber all saying the same thing – and that becomes your perception of how people think.
Then you get all confused at election time when national get into power yet again because everyone you talk too say exactly the same as you.
Ban yourself, you and your fake left infiltrators have made this site unbearable.
Hoping for the defeat of religious extremists in Syria – right wing?
Opposing the extreme right and undemocratic Ukrainian regime – right wing
Arguing for moves against the Saudi/ Israeli/US neo-con foreign policy – right wing?
Arguing for the reversal of all neoliberal policies in NZ and the building of a socialist, environmentalist government ( not a Labour version of neoliberalism) – right wing?
Making a case for the severity of the climate issue – right wing?
Left wing is NOT what the Labour Party has been since Douglas.
“Fake left infiltrators”?!
Labour is the party that’s houses the ” fake left infiltrators” in the guise of neoliberalism.
I wouldn’t miss you either.
Oh, for a nice safe space lefty echo chamber
Pus off [deleted] you’re alt-right remember
And that sums you up. Not left, doesn’t want spaces for the left to discuss stuff. No you are the well poisoner, the authoritarian, like the right wing hero’s you adore. The sooner you fuck off overseas to your right wing utopias, the better imo.
[edited] – B
[You know the deal with using real world names where people are using pseudonyms. And what’s with the ad hom nonsense yet again today? It’s boring marty. Please desist] – Bill
You got the nice discussion you wanted yesterday didn’t you Bill with your innocent wee post. Fuck you and this bullshit im not hanging with your crew. To everyone who cares about people – have an empowering year. To tat and his mates – i hope i never hear any of your bullshit ever again. Dont worry ill keep fighting scum like you till i drop dead.
Being a bidduva snoflake matey.
Focus on sorting out your personal life first, marty mars.
marty i’m with you fully – i’ve watched quite a few spiral down into the trumpster world over the last year and for me TS is not a good place to visit any more
Marty mars – again with the real names (that’s clearly against the rules) – and it’s not nice to call people scum just because they disagree with you.
+1 Marty. Thanks for carrying the torch. I have nothing to say to these people.
to be fair Paul most of your beef is if with more rationale and balanced lefties who are not Pilger or Rt glove puppets, stop picking on us poor rwnj
You can always start your own site where you and your fellow travellers can congregate, that is if 2 or 3 people can be called a congregation A possible domain names, Doom and Gloom, Assad Vlad and me , I don’t think I just hyper link. RT Glovepuppets ……..
You know – I’m with you there all the way Red.
I’m fed up to the back teeth with all this wonderful Assard, Amazing Putin, only RT tell it like it REALLY is, Fantastic Trump, poor Julian so misunderstood, and let’s all hate Obama, nonsense.
Amazing Putin…. Can’t really discuss Putin’s motives unless you have a map with his warm water ports imo.
And kudos to him… well played 🙄
You’re missing out Red, the Doomstead Diner already exists, hosted by the egocentric RE and features the food stockpiling Norman Pagett, Steve Ludlum with an artistic view of the global economy and many other guests on the Collapse Cafe.
I don’t think getting rid of dissenting views is terribly helpful, despite how obnoxious and insufferable some of them can be. If anything, it’s a pertinent reminder of just what we’re opposing, and if you don’t know your enemy, you’re likely to be outmaneuvered more often than not. Sure, there are shills and yes-men, and pious members of the Church of Neo-Liberalism for whom the free market can do no wrong, and they’ll refuse to see common-sense and reason for the rest of forever, rather than admit that perhaps its all been a dreadful mistake responsible for a great deal of unnecessary suffering. But they’re entitled to their views, and they’re the ones who will have to contend with the prickling of their collective consciences… those who exhibit any sort of conscience. (And no, I don’t believe left-wing politics has any sort of monopoly on either compassion or common-sense.)
Besides, I learned a long time ago that arguing with zealots, religious, political or otherwise, is a tedious and frustrating exercise in futility. You can’t badger and belittle someone into changing their mind. As irritating as it may be, they kind of have to arrive at certain conclusions themselves. And some of them never will. You have to accept it and move on, which is not to say that I don’t find some of their utterances both baffling and offensive.
They’re not all bad. James, Alwyn and even BM can sometimes exhibit profound thinking and post insightful comments. I think Fisiani is probably the only one who persists in trolling for outrage, probably for shits and giggles.
Paul won’t be able to answer you for a week. He obviously didn’t read my post including its warnings and paid the price.
I look at it as being a form of inoculation. One of the problems that various people around political systems have is that they don’t get enough exposure to dissenting viewpoints. To be able to argue with someone with a rigid mind you have to be able to formulate the argument against it. To do that you have to be able to hear the argument.
I never expect to convince anyone from any side. However I am prepared to go as far as to sow serious doubt, indulge in serious levels of personal criticism and disdain of others to ram home the point, and to learn on those (fortunately) rare occasions when I am definitely caught on the wrong foot. Just as interesting is watching others fall into the traps that I would have if I’d had bothered to argue.
That happens not only here, but also out in the real world as well. It is just a lot easier to learn here. It is all part of having a lifetime of learning.
But I’m not really interested in having a nice echo chamber here. It tends to be dead boring. What I am prepared to do is to make the behavioural ground somewhat treacherous so that repetitive behaviours tend towards being risky. I find that is a lot better basis to level up the playing field.
So funny .. if you cannot stand the heat of pragmatic ideas you seek to ban them … having no argument to oppose a meld of reality with restrictions on where it leads the wrong way.
The point is that Douglas saved this country from the problems which affect most of the world but was stopped from introducing the safeguards which result in the problems affecting this country..
There is absolutely no future for Labour if it continues to go left. One can have one’s ideals but pragmatists know if you want to govern you need the center ground. Hence my belief in a meld.
Wrong.
And what safeguards were those, might I ask?
You have to remember that Douglas wanted to chop *EVERYTHING*. That is why Lange had to intervene.
I have to admit though, the changes brought in between 84-87 were minor compared to the changes brought in between 1987 and 1996. The poor and unemployed managed to hang in there through a combination of generous redundancy payouts and a welfare system that still paid a decent amount. Things didnt really go to shit until 1991 when Ruth Richardson implemented austerity 2 decades before the UK decided to go back to a Walpole-era state. Market rents for state housing, benefit cuts, the chopping of home ownership subsidies, as well the changes in the health system did the worse damage, plus the privatisation and deregulation of utilities was backloaded to 1994-1998.
Privatisation didnt really kick off on a serious basis until about 1988. I think the SOE system was a positive move on balance,though the commercial aspect was emphasised too much.
Adrian you still have Amy Goodman and Democracy Now. Unless of course you also think that DN and Goodman among some of the most despicable enemies of progressive change.
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/14/slaughter_or_liberation_a_debate_on
Thanks Jenny, I have been a Democracy Now! listener for a few years now, and no of course I don’t think DN is a enemy of change, why would you say that? DN is probably one of the best news sources out there, albeit quite American centric at times.
A couple of other news and information sources I find useful
Law and Disorder Radio…
http://lawanddisorder.org/
FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, incorporating the Counterspin podcast
http://fair.org/
Behind the News with Doug Henwood, some great interviews.
https://kpfa.org/program/behind-the-news/
Against the Grain, some serious indepth left wing and progressive analysis.. very good
https://kpfa.org/program/against-the-grain/
My apologies Adrien. When I read you lumping The Guardian amongst those you consider to be a despicable enemy of progressive change. I assumed it was because The Guardian and Democracy Now share the same Editorial line on the Syrian regime, the Arab Spring and the Syrian revolution.
Personally I find the Guardian to be a very reliable and reputable source especially when it comes to reporting climate change issues.
Maybe, to clear up my confusion, you could detail why you think The Guardian is a despicable enemy of progressive change.
Cheers Jenny
Wishing a happy new year to you and your loved ones.
Hi Jenny. For myself I read the Guardian, but with a very cynical eye. You might like to read this for starters..
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/the-guardians-summary-of-julian-assanges-interview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jul/19/yes-jeremy-corbyn-has-suffered-a-bad-press-but-wheres-the-harm
The guardian has a few good writers but in recent years it’s editorial line seems to have been captured by neoliberal and neo-con thinking.
It’s reporting of the Scottish referendum. The events in the Ukraine, Brexit, the US election and Syria show it has become another establishment puppet.
https://off-guardian.org/2016/12/30/greenwald-guardian-engaged-in-journalistic-fraud-in-assange-interview-rewrite/
paul we appreciate your position, we get it, we know who you are a fan boy of in a media sense, can we please FFS not have it rammed down our throats day in day out again 2017 , you keep repeating and posting the same shite in a repetitive cycle and to be honest mate it has got beyond boring, more bordering on psychotic OCD
[lprent: Snap 🙂 You have a week of peace. He failed to read my post and the warning at the end of it. ]
You know it’s not often I agree with your Red, but on this I agree. I’m sick of the scrolling past the same stuff for days on end to read peoples comments.
Hi, no offense taken.
The very serious problem with The Guardian and it’s so called liberal MSM cohorts, is that they have relentlessly and determinedly undermined, belittled and produced actual fake news, not about the radical right, but about the progressive Left…
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jul/19/yes-jeremy-corbyn-has-suffered-a-bad-press-but-wheres-the-harm
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/18/washpost-makes-history-first-paper-to-call-for-prosecution-of-its-own-source-after-accepting-pulitzer/
….I could go on and on and give you links infinitum, but you get the point.
Now this is a very serious problem for us all, because with so many smart progressives still (bizarrely) thinking and quoting these news outlets as legitimate political news sources, the Left remains and will remain divided and impotent, all the while, the right is gaining ground all around us.
It seems to me that the establishment (so called) liberal media, would rather have the right wing in ascendancy, than a real progressive left socialist project, this is judging them by their own words and their own actions over the previous 12 months.
It is just a sad truth, I used to love the Guardian myself, but facts are facts.
So the news on TV1 last night was that Max Key was going to play the New Year in on Sky Tower just before the fireworks display.
I can’t see it being reported very much today by most MSM websites – they just talk about the Sky Tower fireworks display.
On TV1 they said preparation for the Sky Tower display began 5 months ago. An indication that 5 months John Key was still planning to be PM by 1st January?
Who cares what TV1 says … time to get over your antipathy of the Key clan and get on with what is relevant to 2017…. I was fast asleep when all that rubbish was going on.
History is important to the present and future. It is important to understand it. Many things only come to light well after they happened.
Exactly
Terry Pratchett
“It is important that we know where we come from, because if you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”
Perhaps they hired him because a) he is reasonably popular and b) quite talented at what he does.
(Not that im a fan of his music in the slightest).
There you are James! Happy New Year!
Tell me something…as a talented person yourself (you must be because they hired you to troll here as a professional de- railer) do you get paid double time and a day in lieu for working on a statutory holiday?
Always wanted to know.
Happy new year to you rosemary.
Again with the “you must be paid” troll posted as a “fact”.
Try another record for 2017. It’s not so much that it’s boring (which it is). It’s more that it makes you look stupid and all part of the tin foil hat club.
You can do better.
My predictions for 2017…..
– Steven Joyce unveils a large privatisation/outsourcing program in this coming Budget.
– At least 4 more MPs announce their standing down at the 2017 election.
– Gareth Morgan recruits Bernard Hickey and Shemanual Equaib (sp?), and other prominent technocrats to the TOP Party, but it just misses the 5% threshold.
– John Tamihere and Shane Jones announce their initention to stand in the 2017 election, but not for Labour.
– Sky announces its plan to sell Prime TV an an effort to jumpstart its failed merger with Vodafone
– NZME and Mediaworks offer to sell a number of radio station to a third party in return for ComCom approval of their merger
– At least 1 assassination attempt is made on Donald Trump
– The All Blacks defeat the Lions in the upcoming series 2-1, but the Lions win all their matches against the Super 15 sides.
– In his valedictory speech, John Key expresses regret for pledging not to tighten eligibility for National Superannuation, he also gets a column in a prominent newspaper, “Key Points” which he outlines a number of hard right policy prescriptions.
– “Arise, Sir John Key”.
– The election will be close, with a narrow Labour/Greens win that is not finalised till after the specials are counted, the Greens will be forced to accept a Coalition agreement that they get bugger all out of, but they sign because they do not want another 3 years in opposition. Winston NZ/First will also get into Parliament, but will not be in the coalition, Peters will announce that he is stepping down in 2020.
I’ll be more specific:
The election won’t be held until after the Queens Birthday Honour’s List has been issued so the “arise Sir John” moment actually happens.
One of the retiring MP’s is Shane Reti who stands down from the Whangarei seat.
Shane Jones is the NZFirst candidate who wins the seat.
It won’t be like that.
John Key will receive the Order of New Zealand in next years New Year Honours.
That award does not have the honorific ‘Sir’ attached.
He will receive a Knight of the Garter from the Queen at the same time. That one does rate a ‘Sir’.
Frankly I can’t see anything being awarded to him after Nact lose the 2017 election.
So it’s before or nothing. As I understand it the government of the day does the “Sir” recommending to the Queen.
But I am in awe of such a detailed time table – has this already been organised with Bill English? Could this also be known as “the fix is already in? “???
” I can’t see anything being awarded to him after Nact lose the 2017 election”.
Do you really think that that miserable little rat-bag Little would be such a prick in the unlikely event he became PM?
After all the Key Government gave the award to Clark, and a knighthood to Cullen. They were magnanimous I suppose. Even the Clark Government made Bolger a member of the Order of New Zealand. Would a Little Government really be so little minded?
” As I understand it the government of the day does the “Sir” recommending to the Queen”
Not for the Garter. From
http://www.heraldicsculptor.com/Garters.html
“appointment to the order is solely at the discretion of the British monarch”
New Zealand has only had two, to date. Holyoake and Hillary.
Actually “the fix being in” is the knife being sharpened by Grant Robertson to slip into Little’s back after National lead the next Government following the election.
The timetable is merely reflecting the fact that such awards are normally made after the MP leaves Parliament. See Goff’s award.
I had better correct this. The Clark Government did not award the honour to Bolger (He already had it). They did give it to Don McKinnon though.
RedBaronCV
While I think it probable that John Key will get whatever he gets at Queens Birthday, in the event he did not, it would be extraordinary for a different govt to deliberately not give him an honour.
That would be against all precedent going back many decades. Helen Clark got an ONZ from National, Sir Michael Cullen got a KNZM.
Andrew Little, if he was the PM, would simply be not that small minded. And you saw that in his quite generous remarks when John Key stepped down.
While that type of civility might annoy many Standardnista’s, it is a desirable and perhaps a necessary part of constitutional govt to ensure neither side acts out of spite and vengeance when they have their time in office.
The US has got altogether too near that space, and most people think that they are poorer for it.
Funny how they are all the best of mates when they are out of office. Wouldn’t be because they have the same paymasters by any chance?
They often work together more than most realize.
There are a number of cross party parliamentarian groups which are an active part of parliamentary life.
Take this one for example:
http://abortionwiki.org/New_Zealand_Parliamentarians_on_Population_and_Development
There are even parliamentary friendship groups.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/document/00hooocmppmpsfriendshipgroups1
Which is why honours should be determined by an independent body.
Goodness me. I agree with you Wayne. I guess there is room for integrity and old fashioned courtesy on both sides of the political equation. It would be very nice to see some of the old fashioned courtesies of yesteryear return to political life everywhere. The world would not be in the turmoil it is today if that was the case.
How interesting Wayne – the right spend considerable time attacking the people who criticize them ( with no need to be civil apparently! Paula Bennett releasing personal details of people who commented on a policy – and the whole of “dirty politics” ) but this is now “a bad thing” according to you.
Maybe Nact could get busy and practice what you suggest?
I look forward to the wholesale apologies from the right along with appropriate restitution for all the times they have attacked people who have done nothing personally to deserve it.
So if John wants his “sir” rather than the classless ONZ (Labour may be happy to recommend that) I can’t see us having too early an election – which was what the post was about.
As to generous – JK has been far too generous with my tax money paying for public services by dodgy corporates and running up a record debt so high earners can have tax cuts.
Here’s Scott Yorke’s predictions for 2017:
https://imperatorfish.com/2016/12/31/top-ten-predictions-for-2017/
No 8.”Andrew Little will be accused of smiling. An internal Labour Party investigation will determine that he was in fact just grimacing in an unusual manner.”
Peters stepping down? I think he’ll die on the perch (and then his party – which stands for what, exactly?) will wither away pretty damn quickly.
They stand for National losing Northland if nothin else. Which is not to be scoffed at.
Even Winston will want to move on. He has been involved in every election going back to 1975 when he stood for what is now Te Tai Tokerau.
2017 got off to a great start when Celtic trounced a team calling itself “Rangers” and moved 19 points clear at the top of the SPFL. That really felt good. Some things in life are more important than politics. Good friends, family, and supporting the best team. That’s me. Enjoy 2017. It looks like its going to be a great year.
Labour often talk about giving people a fair go. Are they prepared to give smokers a fair go?
Tobacco tax increase comes in today
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/321568/tobacco-tax-increase-comes-in-today
Maybe the government (and any possible Labour/Greeen government of the future) are more interested in giving smokers and those who live with them a fair go in terms of greater life expectancy..?
While that may benefit those that manage to quit, it leaves those that don’t far worse off.
Greater life expectancy is also related to ones diet. Therefore, fiscally punishing smokers robs them of their disposable income to maintain a healthy diet. Resulting in compounding the problem as they continue to smoke and have less for things like heating and food.
You are clutching at straws there Extremist. Smoking is probably the biggest hindrance to any health program. A better solution, if you can’t give up, would be to cut back wouldn’t it?
“Smoking is probably the biggest hindrance to any health program”
So are a number of things sold in your local supermarket.
This is far from the first tobacco tax increase, thus a number of smokers have already cut down as far as they handle. While some others have turned to more desperate and underhanded measures.
We are largely dealing with the hardcore smokers now.
As for clutching at straws, you need to widen your perspective.
A number of smokers are currently struggling to get by.
If they continue to smoke (and many will) this tax increase will force them to cut back on the essentials even more.
Keep in mind we are dealing with a highly addictive substance. And a good number of smokers come from a lower social economic background (making them potential Labour supporters seeking that fairer go).
I’d say there is a stronger link between prescription drugs lowering life expectancy http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76712274/Codeine-morphine-and-painkiller-drug-use-in-NZ-quadruples-in-a-decade-study
That would help explain why so many respondents say they are happy when they respond to pollsters, they’re high on prescription drugs.
For tens of thousands that may be true. Even Pokemon go is looked at as a kind of anti depressant drug. Must people don’t understand that for every 20 cents you save on cheap prescription drugs you lose a dollar in wages.
Is tobacco tax increases shortening the life expectancy of dairy owners?
If Labour genuinely wanted to give everyone a fair go, they would approach this problem in a fairer, less damaging way.
On average a smoker who stops gets another six years of pension. Stopping smoking is always a good thing. Annual tax increases are part of the solution.
The price incentive to quit is there now. Therefore, annual tax increases no longer need to be part of the solution.
The approach must now change to help deal with the hardcore and prevent the new uptake.
Would it be feasible for those lovely caring tobacco industry people to manufacture a far less dangerous fag with less tar, and the other nasty chemicals, but with ‘flavour’ and nicotine?
Good point Garibaldi though better all round to give it up completely as i managed in 1974 … ten years before I had my heart quad bypass.
My smoking addiction, which I probably still have but doesn’t trouble me these day, consisted of two things the sucking and the inhaling.
With a bad attack of a cold I gave up smoking for two or three days and as I recovered I simply sucked but didn’t light up. Trouble was helpful folk kept offering to light my cig . I spotted a miniature ‘alpine pipe’ and bought it to suck … obviously no tobacco to light up so no more ‘offers’.
After two or three months I had bit through the pipe stem and filed another grip for my teeth. another few months and I was happy to let the pipe go.
I hope my story will help a smoking addict kick the habit because even at twenty a day and particularly at today’s prices I have been considerably richer financially and health wise .
Come ‘bypass’ in 1984 I felt for fellow patients as they tried to fool the nurses by ducking out of the ward … but you could smell it on them when they returned. Really sad.
E-cigarettes.
Labour often talk about giving people a fair go. Are they prepared to give smokers a fair go?
Nope. If anything, they’re even more intent on creating a black market for tobacco than the current government is.
It would explain why they also support an increase in police numbers.
The new left aka the moralising upper middle clasd
The best way to crack down on smoking is to nationalise the tobacco companies and close them down over the next 10 years, selling the plant for scrap and the buildings/land to recover the costs. Then fully legalise e-cigarettes.
That overlooks the black market, gave no indication on pricing while also overlooking tobacco companies are largely the suppliers of e-cigarettes.
The best way to crack down on smoking…
What really would be best would be if governments stopped seeing it as their job to “crack down” on people’s recreational drug use. As to your suggestion: excellent from the gangs’ point of view, not so hot for those of us who aren’t gang members.
considering very little tobacco is manufactured here legallly, fk all land or plant to sell, so dumb plan, BAT 75 pc market share and import every thing
I never said anything about banning tobacco, but anything has to be better than imposing further financial strain on the poor, and demonising those who smoke for various reasons — ie stress relief, food substitute, etc.
But we do need to fully legalise e-cigarettes. They are the future IMO.
thought for a new year….
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/51/6c/81/516c81e28334c9b3bec82e38fc945322.jpg
love it!
The twelfth day around Christmas and a finale of quotes on Friendship. And that is important to look for, and to find the genuine article.
To look for the good in people, and try to resist calling people you don’t agree with a piece of pus. I think handle it to try to limit responses to feisty people, one poke and then leave the aggro to settle.
Frankly I believe that the blog is being so constantly aggravated by provocative poisonous RW that don’t give a damn about a better world for all, that ithe blog’s good effect and value is being severely blunted. Limiting comment numbers per day would be one way of limiting the pollution, and everyone would be forced to limit their sayings or miss the chance for something meaningful. And this would deter them from starting flame wars because it would be wasting their opportunities to put forward their hopefully, intelligent, witty opinions.
+++
Happy New Year folks!
I predict that 2017 will be the year that deep-rooted and endemic corruption arising from the Neo-liberal private procurement model for public services (at local and central government) will be finally exposed.
As a result – I predict that the Neo-liberal myth, that ‘public is bad – private is good’, will be finally shattered, as the facts and evidence prove that the private procurement model, (contracting out of public services), is more costly, a less effective use of public (tax and rates) monies, and it breeds corruption.
That there are, in my view, billion$ of public monies being spent on ‘corporate welfare’, which could (and should) be spent on ‘people’s welfare’ – particularly our most vulnerable.
I predict that ‘the books’ will be opened, and the Public Records Act 2005, WILL be implemented and enforced, starting with Auckland Transport, and the following details of awarded contracts WILL be made available for public scrutiny:
* The unique contract number.
* The name of the consultant /contractor.
* A brief description of the scope of the contract.
* Contract start /finish dates.
* The exact dollar value of each and every contract – including those sub-contracted.
* How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
In order to help achieve this –
I shall be standing as an
‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption’ Independent candidate in the upcoming Mt Albert by-election.
If you would like to help – please send me a personal message on Facebook.
Also – please help by SHARING this post!
2017 is going to be a DOOZY!
Starting today ……
🙂
Penny Bright
Good to see Penny that in the new year you have decided to stop peddling support for corruption and genocide in Syria.
http://litci.org/en/rami-makhlouf-a-corruption-poster-boy/
The sovereign government of Syria is gradually reasserting control and safety over the country.
Without help from the apologists for illegal foreign sponsored regime change, like yourself.
On this issue CV – I agree with you.
Kind regards
Penny Bright.
Really Penny?
Do you still really support the despotic junta in Syria that is responsible for over 400,000 deaths mostly from aerial bombardment?
If you do, I have to ask you; Are you and your new neo-fascist mates planning to disrupt the Mt Albert by-election by picketing the Green Party candidate?
Just like you have been harrassing the Syrian refugees?
https://thestandard.org.nz/voices-from-aleppo/#comment-1281292
Define ‘harassing’ Jenny?
In New Zealand, our democratic rights as citizens to freedom of expression and peaceful protest are protected by law under the NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990.
(Sections 14 and 16).
Perhaps you’d like to (re)read this legislation?
Kind regards
Penny Bright
From your non-answer Penny, can I take it that you don’t intend to break any laws, but that you do intend, to the limit the law allows disrupt the Mt Albert by-election by harrassing the Green Party candidate?
Penny, are these the sort of protests that you and your Far Right mates intend to mount against the Green Party candidate?
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/protesters-clash-in-auckland-over-killings-in-syria/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11746979
Do you, or did you Jenny, support the ‘White Helmets’ in Aleppo, Syria – yes or no?
Asking nicely.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
(Who did not / does not support the ‘White Helmets’ in Aleppo, Syria.)
Absolutely, yes. I support the White Helmets. In my opinion, only a pschopathe wouldn’t.
What’s your point?
Make your mind up if you think people who question the authenticity of the White Helmets are psychopaths.
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/just-how-gray-are-the-white-helmets-of-syria/
But Paul, yesterday you were claiming Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk were the authoritative sources on the White Helmets, not the political activists at Alternet and Counterpunch. Did you finally notice that neither Cockburn nor Fisk actually make the claims you imply they do?
Alternet and Counterpunch aren’t authoritative sources on anything – in fact, the Counterpunch piece even offers regime propaganda sources like Vanessa Beeley, Solidarity with Syria and Russia Today as “raising investigation-based questions” about the White Helmets, rather than the more accurate “promoting the regime’s talking points.”
Any force that deliberately targets ambulances, search and rescue services and hospitals to quell and intimidate their opponents, whatever the pretext, are by definition psychopathic, and under the Geneva conventions, war criminals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnu7HUreOdA
Missed this did you Jenny?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fact-sheet-on-syrias-white-helmets/5549760
The White Helmets – here are a few facts that you need to know.
Share this to your family and friends who subsist on Western corporate media:
* The White Helmets, also called Syria Civil Defence, are not who they claim to be.
The group is not Syrian; it was created with USA/UK funding under the supervision of a British military contractor in 2013 in Turkey.
* The name “Syria Civil Defence” was stolen from the legitimate Syrian organization of the same name.
The authentic Syria Civil Defence was founded in 1953 and is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization (1958).
* The name “White Helmets” was inappropriately taken from the legitimate Argentinian relief organization Cascos Blancos / White Helmets. In 2014, Cascos Blancos / White Helmets was honored at the United Nations for 20 years of international humanitarian assistance.
* The NATO White Helmets are primarily a media campaign to support the ‘regime change’ goals of the USA and allies.
After being founded by security contractor James LeMesurier, the group was “branded” as the White Helmets in 2014 by a marketing company called “The Syria Campaign” managed out of New York by non-Syrians such as Anna Nolan. “The Syria Campaign” was itself “incubated” by another marketing company named “Purpose”.
……”
Kind regards
Penny Bright
PS: Yes – I was appalled to hear Green MP Julie-Ann Genter publicly support the ‘White Helmets’ at a recent anti-Assad / anti-Russia demonstration in Auckland.
I doubt Julie-Ann Genter loses any sleep over her speeches appalling the odd delusional crank.
Of course. Yes, I support the first responders known as the White Helmets absolutely. In my opinion, only a psychopath wouldn’t.
Let me Penny, ask you a question in return.
Do you support this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt3gR4BUPmQ
What a ridiculous question.
Paul, you’re trying to engage with a fanatic. It’s pointless.
Morrissey, Do you dispute the fact that the destruction evidenced in the video was committed by the Assad regime?
Since the total destruction of this city described as “The Capital of the revolution” was undoubtably committed by the regime, and that Paul and yourself support that regime, I don’t think the question is “ridiculous” or “pointless” to give your answer, I am sure our readers would all like to know.
Do you Morrisey and Paul support the methods used by the regime to quell the uprising?
The fact that you refuse to answer these questions. Exposes the depth of either your hypocrisy and/or depravity.
The White Helmets are a foreign funded propaganda NGO which works closely with the former terrorists in East Aleppo.
Very few (if any) residents in East Aleppo ever saw them perform any actual rescue work.
Now that East Aleppo has been liberated, the White Helmets have basically disappeared with the rebels.
CV, since the White Helmets are targeted by the regime.
(Something which you support and even applaud)
What point are you trying to make?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR0A3zYVrHI
Of course. Because they are not an impartial civil defence organisation.
They are a propaganda arm of the rebels.
What sort of reputable civil defence organisation would pull this shit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgl271A6LgQ
And the white helmets have been in existence for a total of 3 years, for about as long as a war has been going on. Hmm?? The real Syrian Civil Defence was formed in 1953 and through western media we hear nothing about, it’s all the white helmets..
Rehearsal is an important part of getting the propaganda just right.
Rehearsal is also a very important part of getting a rescue just right.
Just ask any Fire Fighter of Ambo.
And remember that these are all civilian volunteers.
CV you may mock and sneer as much as you like.
But it is on same flimsy grounds, that you bring up here, that the regime have marked the White Helmets for death.
A position that you support and even applaud.
Not being a Dr I obviously can’t diagnose your view as psychopathic.
But in the common parlance of the lay person, it certainly looks like it to me.
Very few (if any) residents in East Aleppo ever saw them perform any actual rescue work.
You spout these assertions as though they were generally-agreed commonplaces. The fact is, you have no basis for that claim beyond fellow conspiracy theorists and regime propaganda. And even if it were true, it would leave open the not-insignificant question of who the fuck else you think was doing emergency response during the siege. This really is contemptible stuff.
Regardless, it has been sorted. Peace has been returned to Aleppo. Ankara, the CIA and the Pentagon have lost their proxy war for that city.
For the love of God C.V. Psych Milt has a point. They were actually boots on the ground trying to help people, it’s just plain wrong to condemn them for trying to help.
CV is fucking mental
6 years ago all this Alepo bullshit kicked off with a series of 13 suicide bombings, Assades response was America is funding terrorism. The western response was you lie. The Wikileaks says Saudi sponsors ISIS.
And it’s been a gradual decay of western debate ever since.
Cheap ad hom is cheap.
No; the White Helmets were propaganda actors aligned with the terrorist rebels.
They weren’t actual civil defence, they had no presence independent of terrorist fighters, eg they never performed rescues in government held areas of western Aleppo that were under attack from the rebels, they never assisted the Syrian Arab Army in helping rescue civilians.
Further. The western ground game is a myth. They’ve been kindly asked to leave every time they but in.
Iraq asked Turcky to fuck off, US backed rebels have been asked to fuck off because they attract Russian bombs and so on.
I repeat, the entire western ground game is a myth. Happy to provid links upon request
…they never performed rescues in government held areas of western Aleppo that were under attack from the rebels, they never assisted the Syrian Arab Army in helping rescue civilians.
Uh, duh-uh – the regime has its own civil defence operating in regime-held areas, and any of these guys operating there or trying to “assist the Syrian Arab Army” would be arrested immediately as terrorists and tortured for details of where to find all their friends. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s a civil war happening in Syria.
Honestly Milt. This isn’t some hurricane to mope up after. It’s a war zone. Even the US bombed these guys. And when some jihadi wana be disobeys US orders. The Pentagon organises an attack starting with a bombing campaign so stupid moderate rebels form up on the front lines and America says, nah boi, no bombs today. And those rebels get fucked beyond all recognition, then the US points the finger and says see, Assad bad, US good. Your being played by the White House bro.
If you are trying to find a moral high ground out of all this, there isn’t any.
Which is why Russia and Iran finally stepped in, in a big way, to sort out the US/NATO/Turkish run “Assad must go” regime change proxy war programme in Syria.
Maybe it was the real Syria Civil Defence? The one that became a member of the International Civil Defence Organisation in 1972 and appears to have some international street cred. The white helmets came into existence 41 years later, so it can’t be them.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/just-how-gray-are-the-white-helmets-of-syria/
Maybe the regime was providing civil defence services within the rebel-held areas it was busy bombarding? And doing it invisibly so that no-one knew it was happening? I can’t stop the loons at Counterpunch from putting deranged shit on the web, but it would be nice if the people reading it applied their brains while doing so.
Ok, so its attack the source time and ignore the ICDO certified civil defence info.
You know quite well why the established civil defence is completely ignored by the media. It doesn’t fit the narrative.
No, it’s attack-the-logic-fail time. Ridiculing the source of the logic fail was an aside.
I do know quite well why the official civil defence was ignored in media coverage about the siege of east Aleppo – it’s because the regime doesn’t operate emergency services in rebel-held areas, for fairly obvious reasons. That’s also the reason why unofficial first response groups were set up in the first place. No amount of peddling conspiracy theories about a “narrative” can alter that.
And this:
Now that East Aleppo has been liberated [sic], the White Helmets have basically disappeared with the rebels.
No fucking shit, Sherlock? Now that the bombardment’s stopped and the winners are keen to apply torture or summary execution to anyone involved in making them look bad these last few years, the White Helmets aren’t holding any parades in the streets? It’s just plain unfathomable!
The Russians and the Assad government allowed rebels and their sympathisers to peacefully leave Aleppo with their light arms and head away to ISIS held territory.
Therefore any summary executions and ad hoc reprisals by the Syrian Arab Army in Aleppo are likely to be minimal.
Remember, unlike the foreign Islamist fighters, many members of the Syrian Arab Army actually grew up and lived in Aleppo – it is their home town and their home neighbourhoods that they have liberated.
BTW there are plenty of statements from Eastern Aleppo residents that the rebels when in charge performed many summary executions, torture, shooting of civilians who tried to leave the area, etc.
Irrelevant. My points were:
1. Now that there’s no bombardment, it follows that there’s no guys in white helmets digging people out of the rubble after a bombardment.
2. These guys have actively made the regime look bad in the international media. They’re not going to share your sanguine appraisal of the likelihood of reprisals for that.
You’re clearly not that smart if you think that legitimate Civil Defence activities cease when the bombs stop falling.
Because that’s when legitimate civil defence efforts START.
Distributing emergency supplies, identifying individuals and families with medical needs, ensuring that communities are kept informed, checking and clearing each and every apartment in every apartment block for people who are wounded or need any other help.
So where are all these White Helmets doing all these necessary Civil Defence activities?
***POOOF*** gone
Do you even know what a civil war is? Because your comments give the impression you don’t.
For the benefit of any new readers, the Public Records Act does not control making available to the public any information about either central or local government dealings. That is instead a function of the Official Information Act (OIA) and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).
Wishing all a happy and truth-filled year.
Here’s the underpinning legislation folks.
Read it for yourselves:
The Public Records Act 2005 – section 17:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345729.html
17. Requirement to create and maintain records
(1) Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.
______________________
Have you studied the 225 page reasons for the decision of Justice Sally Fitzgerald in the unprecedented bribery and corruption conviction of a corrupt contractor and two corrupt public officials, who both worked for Rodney District Council and then Auckland Transport?
It shows what happens when you don’t have full and accurate public records, and there is a ‘culture of collaboration’ between public officials and contractors?
$1.2 million in bribes – that’s just between one corrupt public official and one corrupt contractor.
This Judgment, in my view, completely vindicates what I’ve been saying for years about corruption in New Zealand.
I look forward to more people paying attention.
Some are.
Have you read the two latest investigative articles about corruption in the NBR by Karyn Scherer?
I recommend you do.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
As noted above, “made available for public scrutiny” is not a function of the Public Records Act. Penny has been told this many, many times now. The public deserve better than wilful ignorance.
Really Sacha?
Would you like to share with us the basis for your supposed ‘expertise’ on the Public Records Act 2005?
And share with us, if you would, information which pertains to any consultancy work you may have obtained from Auckland Council or any Auckland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), if that is the case?
Kind regards
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner.’
Give me a break Penny, for a self styled anti-corruption campaigner you openly support one of the most corrupt and murderous political family dynasties on the planet. First equal with the Kim’s of North Korea.
http://litci.org/en/rami-makhlouf-a-corruption-poster-boy/
Answer the question Penny
P.S. First asked here below
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01012017/#comment-1281487
Being able to read a law is not rare expertise. I have no intention of debating matters of fact with a recidivist dunce, let alone a malicious one.
Indeed.
Someone who imperiously demands that you answer her questions. And then when you do, arrogantly refuses to reciprocate, when you ask her a question.
So Penny, are you, or are you not, planning protests against the Green Party candidate in the Mt Albert by-election?
I have now read much of the Judge’s reasoning. It becomes clear that successful prosecutions were possible only because the records held by public agencies including AT were kept in accordance with the Public Records Act. Nothing in that law stops somebody lying on a Conflict of Interest form, but preserving the evidence can be helpful later.
The year that might be: Fairfax political predictions for 2017
Number 19. There will be one more political bombshell in 2017 that will change the course of the election and install Andrew Little as prime minister.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/87902265/the-year-that-might-be-our-political-predictions-for-2017
Interesting. However I don’t see Little as having a good chance against the National candidate.
I don’t think Marama Fox will be a one term only MP.
There will be plenty more of the unexpected.
And more violence against civilians internationally – like this mass shooting by 2 “Santas” in Istanbul.
We live in uncertain and brutal times.
I see the Stuff predictions have nothing to say about poverty and inequality – not interested. To them politics is just a game – and a one of power.
you have to watch out for Marama Fox. She is a hardline social conservative who opposes homosexuality, abortion, decriminalization of cannabis use, sex education in school, and supports the religous indocrination of South Auckland youth via charter schools.
Pity. She’s been very good on poverty and homelessness, etc.
I’m still surprised the Stff prediction is that she won’t be r-elected next year. I thought she’d been a strong performer.
Yeah she’s a strong pollie alright and she has a natural personality for it, she deserves to get back in no matter what people think of her I reckon.
She is useless on the environment having caved in to the right on the RMA
millsy
Do you have a handy link about Marama Fox detailing all that stuff? She is a strong speaker and though I had heard her say some RW style things, I did hope that she would be a progressive voice for Maori.
http://www.noted.co.nz/currently/profiles/maori-party-co-leader-marama-fox-interview/
millsy
Great thanks.
Marama is a five to one outsider and Meka has performed as good as Marama. I just don’t see Fox overcoming her 8000 vote deficit http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2014/electorate-66.html
Unintended irony by the Herald on Sunday
Page 1 ( channelling Paul Henry and Mike Hosking)
‘Welcome to 2017 in the greatest little country on Earth’
Page 2 ( only story) ‘Homeless man told to live in car.’
My predictions for 2017. A national / act / nz first government.
Andrew little replaced by Grant Robertson with jacinda and deputy.
There is a better than even chance of this happening, IMO, particularly if National plays the shell game I think it is. A low party vote means Little may not even get back into Parliament.
Indeed.
Little needs a seat – they are too close to having zero list MP’s on some polling.
I think not going for Kings seat was a major mistake from him.
Then again he prob knows without winning the election he is toast anyway.
I wouldn’t write Labour off just yet. It all depends on whether or not Little chooses to seize the initiative at the start of the year.
US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware
Oh oh oh another prediction. Little will try to chicken out on the hagamans court case.
he cannot afford to lose that either (or his house).