Here is a little song that goes out to 99.9 % of American politicians … but especially who Trump who seems to be embracing to vibe of the song as his actual political philosophy..
The Sunday lesson globalization and the mediocrity of metrics.
“As with our earlier worship of saints and facts, there is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting. The message of the competition/efficiency/marketplace Trinity seems to be that we should drop the idea of ourselves developed over two and a half millennia. We are no longer beings distinguished by our ability to think and to act consciously in order to affect our circumstances. Instead we should passively submit ourselves and our whole civilization — our public structures, social forms and cultural creativity — to the abstract forces of unregulated commerce. It may be that most citizens have difficulty with the argument and would prefer to continue working on the idea of dignified human intelligence. If they must drop something, they would probably prefer to drop the economists. ”
― John Ralston Saul
Globalization and increasing error in metrics.
Official international economic statistics are generally considered accurate and meaningful gauges of cross-border flows of trade and capital. Most data users also assume that the quality of the underlying data keeps improving over time. Through an extensive review of the national accounting literature, archival research, two dozen interviews with high-level statisticians, and a series of data quality tests, we evaluate this common view for the primary source of data on trade and capital flows: the International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payments (BOP) Statistics. Our assessment paints a less rosy picture: reported figures are far less accurate than they are typically imagined to be and often do not correspond to the theoretical concepts with which users associate them. At the same time, measurement quality deteriorates over time as the transnationalization of economic production gradually undermines the validity of BOP statistics. Our findings raise serious questions about the widespread use of these numbers, with their deceptive pretense to accuracy, in scholarly research and public debate about the international political economy.
So the ACLU who vertualy 100% of the time is spewing out anti Trump rhetoric is not biased? It makes absurd racism cliams, supports the sex abuse allegations against Kavanaugh despite them being exposed as bullshit. This present stuff is pre the new changes to the rules. So they can’t attack him now so just regurgitate the past. They have no credibility.
Why arnt they complaining about normal criminals being seperated from there children. Immigrants that break the law, the President applying the Law as it stood at the time is somehow different?
Have they issued a press release congratulating Trump in seeing Bush, Obama policy as being wrong and changing it. That’s what they want isn’t it, more humane treatment of citizens. Oops.
Donald J. Ward……just another unhinged cultist whom straight-up like asserts and reasserts that Donald J. Trump is a fine role model for children. I adopt the succinct analysis of onetime Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
He is a role model. He has achieved great things in his life. President of the US for example. Works hard, doesn’t drink etc, loves women.
Last month he added 304,000 jobs. That’s lots of people’s lives, and there kids, changed for the better. But carry on North ignoring him winning biggly.
Whatever tRump as done it has nothing to do with improving the job market in the US. There has been a steady improvement in reducing unemployment since Dec 2010
Replying to @aaronsojourner @DavidWohl @realDonaldTrump
The hypocrisy of Trump’s jobs claims, in one chart: “Whereas before the jobs report was fake, Trump now says it’s the news that is”
That’s funny because those rabidly opposed to Jacinda Ardern say that her becoming Prime Minister of New Zealand cannot be regarded as an achievement.
BTW, not drinking is not an achievement unless you suffer from alcoholism. And if you regard his attitude to women as “loving” them then that explains why you have had so much trouble in the past.
1: I have no ploblem with Jacinda being Prime Minister. Being a prime minister even if it was accidental, and required selling her soul to Winston is still something to aspire to.
2: I hardly ever have a drink, and considering its harm, is something to aspire to.
3: I’m proud of my attitude towards women. The fact that I was never violent in a situation many men would have been violent in, is something to aspire too. Even when you have been punched in the head while protecting a baby, handing the baby back and walking out of the house is something to aspire to. The only option permitted for men in a society that bans men from having relationships with there children for no reason and protects violent women.
You’ve contradicted yourself on 1 in saying you don’t have a problem with “Jacinda” being Prime Minister but then qualifying it with the usual RW nonsense.
I won’t respond to the rest because you obviously have major trouble with your attitude toward women.
“His kids have turned out OK” ? Hardworking ? And the absolute pearler….”he loves women”. No. He molests women and brags about getting away with it because “I’m a star”.
You’d be a fuck useless father to a daughter Donald J. Ward. I’m with Tillerson. F cultist M you.
I’ll remind myself every time that my Daughter gives me a spontaneous hug for being a terrible dad that North takes the bait so easily. Actually nah since you did, and haven’t added anything to the conversation yet of any value.
McFlock, Joe90, Macro, Anne etc contribute with counter arguments showing character. They set out to prove me wrong, often doing so, and we all learn something. You haven’t been doing that.
You do realise that when children are taken into state care while their parents are in custody, paperwork is kept?
Fuck, these days farmers are supposed to keep better track of their stock than the yanks did with human beings. Kids have been permanently separated from their parents because of a lack of paperwork. Actual criminals have detailed chain of custody records, and yet these children did not.
Even the fucking Nazis did the basic paperwork.
This issue pissed me off when it first came out, and every time it gets worse it pisses me off even more. People can argue dolt45 is a dick, or corrupt, but this is the one thing I don’t think he is responsible for or possibly even knew a damned thing about. I don’t think he would understand paperwork even if he thought to ask for it. The people in his organisation who ran this were fucking evil. And if you want to defend something so patently wrong, you’re fucking evil too. Not just a blinkered moron, you’re standing in defence of evil, so that rubs off on you.
100%
I can’t believe just how incompetent and irresponsible those who have perpetuated this atrocity are! They were either so inhumane and bigoted, that they could not see just how evil their lack of care was/is, or they are complete idiots who couldn’t manage their way out of the proverbial paper bag. On reflection I think both.
Um, I just said good on Trump for changing what was happening.
Just because the paperwork was crap doesn’t result in a justification of calling it a Crime Against Humanity. There isn’t even a catagory for it.
If taking kids from parents, and those parents knowing nothing about where there kids are, without a crime being committed, unlike the illegal immigrants, then Women’s Refuge are just as guilty.
But heh there’s things you support, and your hatred of Trump.
How does this by the ACLU say what was said in the lead post by Joe90.
Oh the inhumanity. A total misrepresentation. The seperated kids “the cliam by Joe90” are vertualy all ones that came on there own or decided to stay post parent deportation. So not seperated. Released and melted into the US, or returned home? Or don’t exist in the numbers claimed? Yep don’t exist in the numbers claimed because they report themselves on the exact numbers.
They must be talking about thousands of kids trafficked in the unwalled areas for the sex trade. No wonder there’s no paperwork. Something you don’t want stopped based on your hate Trump anti wall position.
The regime’s own report says more than 2,700 children are being held and that thousands of children may have been separated during an influx that began in 2017, before the accounting required by the Court.
Key Takeaway
The total number of children separated from a parent or guardian by immigration authorities is unknown. Pursuant to a June 2018 Federal District Court order, HHS has thus far identified 2,737children in its care at that time who were separated from their parents. However, thousands of children may have been separated during an influx that began in 2017,before the accounting required by the Court, and HHS has faced challenges in identifying separated children
“Staff had begun informally tracking separations in 2016, recognizing that additional information and effort was required to locate parents of separated children.”
So prior to that was Obama. WTF was he recording? No wonder that pre Trump or the begining of Trumps Presidency they can’t answer how many “seperated” kids there were.
So were not talking about actual seperated kids.
“The majority of children referred to ORR have surrendered to or been apprehended by immigration authorities while entering the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian.”
The Obama policy was to detain unaccompanied children, not separate children from their families, and those without proper claims were at some point [to] be subject to repatriation to their home countries.
tRump’s policy was to separate children from families as a deterrent to would be migrants. They’ve since lost a couple of thousand children.
To say tRump was continuing an Obama policy is dishonest.
Almost immediately after President Trump took office, his administration began weighing what for years had been regarded as the nuclear option in the effort to discourage immigrants from unlawfully entering the United States.
Children would be separated from their parents if the families had been apprehended entering the country illegally, John F. Kelly, then the homeland security secretary, said in March 2017, “in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network.”
[…]
Yet for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the idea of crying children torn from their parents’ arms was simply too inhumane — and too politically perilous — to embrace as policy, and Mr. Trump, though he had made an immigration crackdown one of the central issues of his campaign, succumbed to the same reality, publicly dropping the idea after Mr. Kelly’s comments touched off a swift backlash.
[…]
“The agencies were surfacing every possible idea,” Cecilia Muñoz, Mr. Obama’s top domestic policy adviser, recalled, including whether to separate parents from their children. “I do remember looking at each other like, ‘We’re not going to do this, are we?’ We spent five minutes thinking it through and concluded that it was a bad idea. The morality of it was clear — that’s not who we are.”
That’s not what “separations” means in this context. It includes and is the majority of kids that come across the boarder without adults. So not actually seperated.
Once Trump backed down on “actual” separations, which was for a very short time period, the number of adults bringing children has risen to crisis levels. Nobody even knows if the kids are the kids of the adult. Essentially they are forced to catch and release, making children a must have for illegal entry into the US. There is so many now the system can’t cope. A National Emergency.
The separated ones left are actual criminals using children as a way to get in to the US or Adults with diseases that require isolation. The children not returning with the adult is by choice and most of them get sent to live with relatives, everyone who the child is placed with is checked out first. So because some of the adults shouldn’t be allowed near children you do get some seperated kids.
Nothing it that report talks about the missing records being from the “actual” separation period of time.
Stop trying to illegally enter the US.
There problem solved.
Just because the paperwork was crap doesn’t result in a justification of calling it a Crime Against Humanity. There isn’t even a catagory for it.
If you think that forcibly removing children from caring parents (not abusive ones that refuge deals with) with no consideration for reuniting them (which is what family courts do when the separated parent isn’t a threat to the safety of the child) on a scale of literally thousands is not a crime against humanity, then what is it?
And yeah – taking kids like that is a mass kidnapping. Don’t pretend otherwise.
If these families had been treated like criminals, the paperwork would have been done.
That’s the fucking point.
Some pieces of shit somewhere in the administration didn’t regard these people as criminals, or even animals. At best, they took custody of children without thinking about how to get them back with their parents. At worst, this was an intentional hardship inflicted on immigrant families to discourage others. And if you really want to play the criminal angle, look up “cruel and unusual punishment”.
A new study on ambiguity in the workplace has found that in a world that is increasingly less exact, younger workers are having trouble adapting. But is it the workers or the workplace that needs to change? One of the authors of the study is Karen Becker and she joins Jim from the Sunshine Coast to discuss how we can understand an ever changing world.
And he has 3 minutes spots for people to gush about their concern about something. What’s that – for people with advanced attention span, from 30 seconds to 3 minutes – a streeetch. If it is something of portent it deserves more than 3 mins. If the person is someone of real wisdom and experience how can they describe the topic, explain the problem, offer ideas on alternatives, offer remedials etc in 3 minutes. I think that Jim Mora’s head is as small as the one in Beteljuice.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj_inlzsDhQ
Is he afraid of boring the chattering classes with long-winded journalism. In horse racing those that aren’t sound in wind and limb aren’t up to much for the long stretch. I do fear that Jim’s stable may not be stayers. But still must wait and see how he goes over the high jump or he might be up for the push. I’m pretty good with the cliches, I might get a spot!
What a sop story from Damien Grant! Dowie engaged in an extra-marital affair with (her own parties) bag man, who then goes off the rails – now she’s paid the price apparently? Methinks not yet, deselection coming her way once Siomon is toast. Where’s the personal responsibility National?
Look like Damien Grant has a soft spot for Sarah Dowie. How cute! To be fair, he might get lucky because it seems she likes to put out for manipulative RW idiots.
“Dowie has been ensnared by something even more malign than her ex. The aptly named Harmful Digital Communications Act”
“Sarah Dowie has paid a heavy price for her affair with a fellow MP. But she shouldn’t lose her career over it, argues Damien Grant”
“Under this atrocious piece of legislation it is illegal to suggest someone end their own life even if they elect not to take this option. It is also a crime if any electronic communication causes someone harm”
Didn’t Dowie support and vote for this same legislation? !!
And Damien being the archetypal soul-less and brain-less RW idiot says blithely, “it is illegal to suggest someone end their own life even if they elect not to take this option.”
How devoid of humanity, of compassion and basic goodness can you get?
Initially I thought it might be Brash, y’know, asking for an invitation in order to promote his agenda. This does happen.
Then again I can see Ngapuhi seeking the publicity by having the contentious Brash there. He gave Massey so much coverage – perhaps he could do the same for them.
Mr Taipari sets it up nicely when he says, “If we’re going to solve these issues of racism we have to understand it”.
The first laments the passing of yet another Dutchman in NZ farming, Adrian van Bysterveldt (remember how many Dutchmen are at the heart of the M Bovis outbreak). Adrian was a proponent if dairy intensification and pasture farming in the South Island over the past 15 years. Coincidentally this is the period when the same dairy intensification has damaged South Island waterways.
The second laments exactly that, the destruction of Southland wetlands to make way for dairy intensification.
Fifty-eight dairy farms in Taranaki in breach of their consents. Fifty-eight.
Dirty dairying is polluting the waterways of Taranaki, the Waikato, Southland—and the Bay of Plenty:
FARMER No. 2: It’s all part of the joys and challenge of farming though! It’s—ha ha!—you know—-
FARMER No. 1: Well you’re battling Mother Nature a little bit here. I mean, it was all swamp that was drained. Mother Nature wants to take it back one day probably but we’ll keep fighting!
….Stunned silence…
COUNTRY LIFE: Hearing THAT, one does have to ask: SHOULD they get support to keep farming here?
FARMER No. 1:[scrambling] Ahhhhmmm, this is, you know, very productive dairy land. We must produce a LOT for the region, not to mention, you know, the NATIONAL economy, so um, as far as cost-benefit goes, I would say the government would be making a GOOD INVESTMENT putting money into the scheme….
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Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
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 ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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 ...
Apologies everyone for the lateness. The person responsible has had their pay cut by half.
LOL – you mean their $0.00 pay?
Thanks to you all who keep this place running.
Here here Veutoviper – hats off to all who keep free speech alive on TS.
Brilliant. A great space.
No chocolate fish for that person today. But no loss – too hot and the chocolate melts all over your fingers. Keep cool. Glad to see you.
*Hear, hear.
Sorry. 😳
LOLOL!
Here is a little song that goes out to 99.9 % of American politicians … but especially who Trump who seems to be embracing to vibe of the song as his actual political philosophy..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QbUSjnhv6M
The Sunday lesson globalization and the mediocrity of metrics.
“As with our earlier worship of saints and facts, there is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting. The message of the competition/efficiency/marketplace Trinity seems to be that we should drop the idea of ourselves developed over two and a half millennia. We are no longer beings distinguished by our ability to think and to act consciously in order to affect our circumstances. Instead we should passively submit ourselves and our whole civilization — our public structures, social forms and cultural creativity — to the abstract forces of unregulated commerce. It may be that most citizens have difficulty with the argument and would prefer to continue working on the idea of dignified human intelligence. If they must drop something, they would probably prefer to drop the economists. ”
― John Ralston Saul
Globalization and increasing error in metrics.
Official international economic statistics are generally considered accurate and meaningful gauges of cross-border flows of trade and capital. Most data users also assume that the quality of the underlying data keeps improving over time. Through an extensive review of the national accounting literature, archival research, two dozen interviews with high-level statisticians, and a series of data quality tests, we evaluate this common view for the primary source of data on trade and capital flows: the International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payments (BOP) Statistics. Our assessment paints a less rosy picture: reported figures are far less accurate than they are typically imagined to be and often do not correspond to the theoretical concepts with which users associate them. At the same time, measurement quality deteriorates over time as the transnationalization of economic production gradually undermines the validity of BOP statistics. Our findings raise serious questions about the widespread use of these numbers, with their deceptive pretense to accuracy, in scholarly research and public debate about the international political economy.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2018.1560353
Charge the lot with crimes against humanity, render them direct to The Hague and put Lynndie England and co on the job. Fuckers.
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1091533511666946050
+ 1 they are the lowest, the worst of us.
So the ACLU who vertualy 100% of the time is spewing out anti Trump rhetoric is not biased? It makes absurd racism cliams, supports the sex abuse allegations against Kavanaugh despite them being exposed as bullshit. This present stuff is pre the new changes to the rules. So they can’t attack him now so just regurgitate the past. They have no credibility.
Why arnt they complaining about normal criminals being seperated from there children. Immigrants that break the law, the President applying the Law as it stood at the time is somehow different?
Have they issued a press release congratulating Trump in seeing Bush, Obama policy as being wrong and changing it. That’s what they want isn’t it, more humane treatment of citizens. Oops.
TDS. Just a group of hate Trumpers.
More humane warty? Watchoo talkin bout.
Its like being opposed to full term abortions.
Donald J. Ward……just another unhinged cultist whom straight-up like asserts and reasserts that Donald J. Trump is a fine role model for children. I adopt the succinct analysis of onetime Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
He is a role model. He has achieved great things in his life. President of the US for example. Works hard, doesn’t drink etc, loves women.
Last month he added 304,000 jobs. That’s lots of people’s lives, and there kids, changed for the better. But carry on North ignoring him winning biggly.
His kids have turned out OK.
Whatever tRump as done it has nothing to do with improving the job market in the US. There has been a steady improvement in reducing unemployment since Dec 2010
https://twitter.com/aaronsojourner/status/1089880090949898243/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1089880090949898243&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fpolicy-and-politics%2F2019%2F1%2F30%2F18203611%2Ftrump-jobs-numbers-obama-economy
Oh, and lets repeat the first twitter response:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/30/18203611/trump-jobs-numbers-obama-economy
For the illumination of one, DJ Ward.
I’ll bet he’s a role model to you warty, ass ferssure.
That’s funny because those rabidly opposed to Jacinda Ardern say that her becoming Prime Minister of New Zealand cannot be regarded as an achievement.
BTW, not drinking is not an achievement unless you suffer from alcoholism. And if you regard his attitude to women as “loving” them then that explains why you have had so much trouble in the past.
1: I have no ploblem with Jacinda being Prime Minister. Being a prime minister even if it was accidental, and required selling her soul to Winston is still something to aspire to.
2: I hardly ever have a drink, and considering its harm, is something to aspire to.
3: I’m proud of my attitude towards women. The fact that I was never violent in a situation many men would have been violent in, is something to aspire too. Even when you have been punched in the head while protecting a baby, handing the baby back and walking out of the house is something to aspire to. The only option permitted for men in a society that bans men from having relationships with there children for no reason and protects violent women.
You’ve contradicted yourself on 1 in saying you don’t have a problem with “Jacinda” being Prime Minister but then qualifying it with the usual RW nonsense.
I won’t respond to the rest because you obviously have major trouble with your attitude toward women.
“His kids have turned out OK” ? Hardworking ? And the absolute pearler….”he loves women”. No. He molests women and brags about getting away with it because “I’m a star”.
You’d be a fuck useless father to a daughter Donald J. Ward. I’m with Tillerson. F cultist M you.
I’ll remind myself every time that my Daughter gives me a spontaneous hug for being a terrible dad that North takes the bait so easily. Actually nah since you did, and haven’t added anything to the conversation yet of any value.
McFlock, Joe90, Macro, Anne etc contribute with counter arguments showing character. They set out to prove me wrong, often doing so, and we all learn something. You haven’t been doing that.
You do realise that when children are taken into state care while their parents are in custody, paperwork is kept?
Fuck, these days farmers are supposed to keep better track of their stock than the yanks did with human beings. Kids have been permanently separated from their parents because of a lack of paperwork. Actual criminals have detailed chain of custody records, and yet these children did not.
Even the fucking Nazis did the basic paperwork.
This issue pissed me off when it first came out, and every time it gets worse it pisses me off even more. People can argue dolt45 is a dick, or corrupt, but this is the one thing I don’t think he is responsible for or possibly even knew a damned thing about. I don’t think he would understand paperwork even if he thought to ask for it. The people in his organisation who ran this were fucking evil. And if you want to defend something so patently wrong, you’re fucking evil too. Not just a blinkered moron, you’re standing in defence of evil, so that rubs off on you.
I’m picking the satan’s sidekick responsible for that particular evil was Dobby’s demented evil twin Stephen Miller.
Yeah reasonable chance.
100%
I can’t believe just how incompetent and irresponsible those who have perpetuated this atrocity are! They were either so inhumane and bigoted, that they could not see just how evil their lack of care was/is, or they are complete idiots who couldn’t manage their way out of the proverbial paper bag. On reflection I think both.
Um, I just said good on Trump for changing what was happening.
Just because the paperwork was crap doesn’t result in a justification of calling it a Crime Against Humanity. There isn’t even a catagory for it.
If taking kids from parents, and those parents knowing nothing about where there kids are, without a crime being committed, unlike the illegal immigrants, then Women’s Refuge are just as guilty.
But heh there’s things you support, and your hatred of Trump.
How does this by the ACLU say what was said in the lead post by Joe90.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/nearly-250-migrant-children-still-separated-from-parents-aclu-report-says/2018/10/18/d3fc2fd0-d222-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html?utm_term=.c592cc106878
Answer it doesn’t.
Oh the inhumanity. A total misrepresentation. The seperated kids “the cliam by Joe90” are vertualy all ones that came on there own or decided to stay post parent deportation. So not seperated. Released and melted into the US, or returned home? Or don’t exist in the numbers claimed? Yep don’t exist in the numbers claimed because they report themselves on the exact numbers.
They must be talking about thousands of kids trafficked in the unwalled areas for the sex trade. No wonder there’s no paperwork. Something you don’t want stopped based on your hate Trump anti wall position.
Scary what you support McFlock.
The regime’s own report says more than 2,700 children are being held and that thousands of children may have been separated during an influx that began in 2017, before the accounting required by the Court.
Key Takeaway
The total number of children separated from a parent or guardian by immigration authorities is unknown. Pursuant to a June 2018 Federal District Court order, HHS has thus far identified 2,737children in its care at that time who were separated from their parents. However, thousands of children may have been separated during an influx that began in 2017,before the accounting required by the Court, and HHS has faced challenges in identifying separated children
https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-BL-18-00511.pdf
Thanks for the link, gives context.
“Staff had begun informally tracking separations in 2016, recognizing that additional information and effort was required to locate parents of separated children.”
So prior to that was Obama. WTF was he recording? No wonder that pre Trump or the begining of Trumps Presidency they can’t answer how many “seperated” kids there were.
So were not talking about actual seperated kids.
“The majority of children referred to ORR have surrendered to or been apprehended by immigration authorities while entering the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian.”
The Obama policy was to detain unaccompanied children, not separate children from their families, and those without proper claims were at some point [to] be subject to repatriation to their home countries.
tRump’s policy was to separate children from families as a deterrent to would be migrants. They’ve since lost a couple of thousand children.
To say tRump was continuing an Obama policy is dishonest.
Almost immediately after President Trump took office, his administration began weighing what for years had been regarded as the nuclear option in the effort to discourage immigrants from unlawfully entering the United States.
Children would be separated from their parents if the families had been apprehended entering the country illegally, John F. Kelly, then the homeland security secretary, said in March 2017, “in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network.”
[…]
Yet for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the idea of crying children torn from their parents’ arms was simply too inhumane — and too politically perilous — to embrace as policy, and Mr. Trump, though he had made an immigration crackdown one of the central issues of his campaign, succumbed to the same reality, publicly dropping the idea after Mr. Kelly’s comments touched off a swift backlash.
[…]
“The agencies were surfacing every possible idea,” Cecilia Muñoz, Mr. Obama’s top domestic policy adviser, recalled, including whether to separate parents from their children. “I do remember looking at each other like, ‘We’re not going to do this, are we?’ We spent five minutes thinking it through and concluded that it was a bad idea. The morality of it was clear — that’s not who we are.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/family-separation-trump.html?
That’s not what “separations” means in this context. It includes and is the majority of kids that come across the boarder without adults. So not actually seperated.
Once Trump backed down on “actual” separations, which was for a very short time period, the number of adults bringing children has risen to crisis levels. Nobody even knows if the kids are the kids of the adult. Essentially they are forced to catch and release, making children a must have for illegal entry into the US. There is so many now the system can’t cope. A National Emergency.
The separated ones left are actual criminals using children as a way to get in to the US or Adults with diseases that require isolation. The children not returning with the adult is by choice and most of them get sent to live with relatives, everyone who the child is placed with is checked out first. So because some of the adults shouldn’t be allowed near children you do get some seperated kids.
Nothing it that report talks about the missing records being from the “actual” separation period of time.
Stop trying to illegally enter the US.
There problem solved.
Kelly’s admission that children would be separated from their parents as policy is right in front of you.
You’re either stupid, or willfully dishonest. Imma gonna go with the latter.
They’ve admitted to keeping no records so how the fuck can they be missing?
If you think that forcibly removing children from caring parents (not abusive ones that refuge deals with) with no consideration for reuniting them (which is what family courts do when the separated parent isn’t a threat to the safety of the child) on a scale of literally thousands is not a crime against humanity, then what is it?
And yeah – taking kids like that is a mass kidnapping. Don’t pretend otherwise.
Crossing a nations boarder outside of the law of that nation is a crime. Especially when the law of the nation says it’s a crime.
Don’t pretend otherwise.
If these families had been treated like criminals, the paperwork would have been done.
That’s the fucking point.
Some pieces of shit somewhere in the administration didn’t regard these people as criminals, or even animals. At best, they took custody of children without thinking about how to get them back with their parents. At worst, this was an intentional hardship inflicted on immigrant families to discourage others. And if you really want to play the criminal angle, look up “cruel and unusual punishment”.
So called “Civilised” What a bloody horrible joke.
This on Jim Mora Sunday this morning. Is it good, or merely just showing us how to go round the awkward truths in life and go merrily, and individually along the yellow brick road to the end however we can?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018680877/karen-becker-ambiguity-in-the-workplace
A new study on ambiguity in the workplace has found that in a world that is increasingly less exact, younger workers are having trouble adapting. But is it the workers or the workplace that needs to change? One of the authors of the study is Karen Becker and she joins Jim from the Sunshine Coast to discuss how we can understand an ever changing world.
And he has 3 minutes spots for people to gush about their concern about something. What’s that – for people with advanced attention span, from 30 seconds to 3 minutes – a streeetch. If it is something of portent it deserves more than 3 mins. If the person is someone of real wisdom and experience how can they describe the topic, explain the problem, offer ideas on alternatives, offer remedials etc in 3 minutes. I think that Jim Mora’s head is as small as the one in Beteljuice.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj_inlzsDhQ
Is he afraid of boring the chattering classes with long-winded journalism. In horse racing those that aren’t sound in wind and limb aren’t up to much for the long stretch. I do fear that Jim’s stable may not be stayers. But still must wait and see how he goes over the high jump or he might be up for the push. I’m pretty good with the cliches, I might get a spot!
What a sop story from Damien Grant! Dowie engaged in an extra-marital affair with (her own parties) bag man, who then goes off the rails – now she’s paid the price apparently? Methinks not yet, deselection coming her way once Siomon is toast. Where’s the personal responsibility National?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/110250779/damien-grant-sarah-dowie-has-paid-a-painful-price-for-her-liaisons-let-her-torment-end-there
Looks like there could be a couple of interesting weeks coming up. That’s quite a hit job on Ross, wonder what they are scared of…
Look like Damien Grant has a soft spot for Sarah Dowie. How cute! To be fair, he might get lucky because it seems she likes to put out for manipulative RW idiots.
Grant writes:
“Dowie has been ensnared by something even more malign than her ex. The aptly named Harmful Digital Communications Act”
“Sarah Dowie has paid a heavy price for her affair with a fellow MP. But she shouldn’t lose her career over it, argues Damien Grant”
“Under this atrocious piece of legislation it is illegal to suggest someone end their own life even if they elect not to take this option. It is also a crime if any electronic communication causes someone harm”
Didn’t Dowie support and vote for this same legislation? !!
And Damien being the archetypal soul-less and brain-less RW idiot says blithely, “it is illegal to suggest someone end their own life even if they elect not to take this option.”
How devoid of humanity, of compassion and basic goodness can you get?
“How devoid of humanity, of compassion and basic goodness can you get?”
The guy is an insolvency practitioner, it’s a prerequisite. Micky had a bit to say about the bloke early last year
https://thestandard.org.nz/doofus-of-the-week-anniversary-weekend-edition-damien-grant/
https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1091802483255590912
https://twitter.com/AJemaineClement/status/1091936704271835137
More twitter goodness.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-jr-gop-never-racist-tweet-gets-massive-pushback_us_5c562dc1e4b09293b204b49a
Don Brash has apparently been “invited” to speak at Waitangi. Anyone else wonder who approached who on this engagement?
Would some decent journalist like to find out?
Reuben Taipari, presumably on behalf of Iwi.
Reeks of a publicity stunt. Initiated by either Brash, or the Iwi. That’s what I’d like to know.
Tend to agree it might be a stunt from the Iwi, Brash can’t invite himself, but it is their gig there, so can’t really comment.
Initially I thought it might be Brash, y’know, asking for an invitation in order to promote his agenda. This does happen.
Then again I can see Ngapuhi seeking the publicity by having the contentious Brash there. He gave Massey so much coverage – perhaps he could do the same for them.
Mr Taipari sets it up nicely when he says, “If we’re going to solve these issues of racism we have to understand it”.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/don-brash-guaranteed-protection-at-waitangi-speech.html
Disagree, better to invite the devil in and see what he wants, rather than having him pissing on your tent from the outside. Well played Reuben.
….some decent journalist….
Barry Soper, HDPA, Mike Hosking and Duncan Garner are no doubt on the case.
Well done, Reuben Taipari. An inspiring example for other leaders.
Interesting when you read these two articles in the same day.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2019/02/sad-week-for-dairy-industry-mourning-loss-of-two-respected-figures.html
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2019/02/revealed-southland-wetlands-are-vanishing.html
The first laments the passing of yet another Dutchman in NZ farming, Adrian van Bysterveldt (remember how many Dutchmen are at the heart of the M Bovis outbreak). Adrian was a proponent if dairy intensification and pasture farming in the South Island over the past 15 years. Coincidentally this is the period when the same dairy intensification has damaged South Island waterways.
The second laments exactly that, the destruction of Southland wetlands to make way for dairy intensification.
All on the same news site but no links made…
Fifty-eight dairy farms in Taranaki in breach of their consents. Fifty-eight.
Dirty dairying is polluting the waterways of Taranaki, the Waikato, Southland—and the Bay of Plenty:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/381631/58-taranaki-farms-in-breach-of-their-consents