And defended Matt Gaetz with the angle that no charges have been made so folks are jumping the gun, and some pretty shonkey interpretation of the term "age of consent"..
Yes, my comment was totes all about you (and had nothing to do with Greenwald claiming an age of consent of 17 when in fact the law in several of the relevant states was that the sexual partners of a man in his thirties need to be aged at least 18). /sarc
See, here's the thing: we can get into a debate about the ethics of a 31 year old having sex with a 17 year old, we can debate the semantics of whether that, in many instances, would involve a de facto power imbalance to the point of negating informed consent for someone of the younger age and thereby possibly constituting sexual assault or rape in a specific case, or even whether the Floridian legislation is appropriate (often a doubtful issue).
But my comment had nothing to do with any of that.
Greenwald's efforts to defend a 31yo representative who allegedly had sex with a person under the age of consent include a basic misunderstanding of age of consent legislation in the relevant jurisdictions. Feel free to address that point at any time.
But whatevs. Your relationship as a 16yo with a 26yo was fine. Fair enough.
Were you in Florida at the time? I suspect not. So the Florida law is still irrelevant. Just as Gaetz apparently using venmo to pay a 17yo for sex has nothing to do with NZ prostitution law.Heck, in Russia or Alabama you could have started procreating at something like 14. That is equally irrelevant to Greenwald's apparent commitment to reality.
But in a thread about Greenwald, again, whatever Gaetz did or didn't do and the legality about those alleged actions is irrelevant. The fact is Greenwald, a former reporter still much respected as a blogger ( 👿 ) by some commenters here, is using a fundamentally incorrect understanding of applicable law to defendMatt Gaetz.
Sex we can' live with it and can't do without it. All these thousands of years and we still are arguing about every aspect of it and building higher soapboxes to declaim about it.
mind its not only the sex with a minor (statuatory rape) that is at Gaetzes problem it is the trafficking a minor across statelines for the prupose of sex (Man Act) , and paying her for the services.
so there is the issue with what would be considered statuatory rape
What is Statutory Rape? Florida's statutory rape law is codified in F.S. 794.05. Generally, the age of consent in Florida is 18. … The law says that if a person who is 24 or older engages in sexual activity with a person who is 16 or 17, he or she commits a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
then there is the issue of moving a underage person across statelines is of a different nature altogether.
and paying for sex and receiving making money of sex by pimping a girl ( in this case) out.
In Florida, it is a crime for people who are not married to each other to buy, sell, offer, solicit, or agree to engage in sexual favors in exchange for money. Florida's law against prostitution applies to both prostitutes and “johns.” (Fla. … For more information on prostitution laws generally, see Prostitution.
So even if the statuatory rape charges could be thrown out – and chances are if they stood alone know one would care tbh, it would still leave sex trafficking and pimping. Not sure what Glenn has to say about that.
He's the world's most renowned journalist, and that's your considered response.
The fact that he stands for the principle of free speech (which leads him to support people you have scoffed at and/or vilified, such as Edward Snowden and Julian Assange) and the principle that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty, is no doubt the key driver of your animus towards him.
Morrissey it says volumes about McFlock and Co that they side with the AuthoritarianRight in attacking the journalist whose work actually freed from wrongful imprisonment one of the most important Left wing politicians in the world today…like I said before, these people are just Liberal Imperialists who haven't seen a western led sanction, foreign intervention or war that they didn't like in a long long time.
Glenn Greenwald Took on the Authoritarian Right in Brazil — and Won
On the contrary, McFlock is not necessarily against the presumption of innocence. Just that in this situation its a bit of a hinderance to 'throw everything at the courts and let them sort it out', which is after all just good politics is it not.
All I'm saying about Gaetz is that if "the world's most renowned journalist" comes to your defence and he finds it necessary to mislead people about the age of consent, you might want to top up your budget for an actual legal defense.
To roughly quote john Oliver, the poverty line is like the age of consent: if you feel the need to parse exactly where it is, then you’ve probably already done something very, very wrong.
See, the thing about that is the only source I saw was where Greenwald both describes the age of consent as being 18 in Virginia and that there really need to be charges before considering Gaetz guilt. So if Greenwald is missleading people I need to see where he is doing that (and this point was elided from your prior link).
“If you don’t think it should be legal for 17 year-olds to have sex with anyone they want, go write to the governors and legislatures in 37 states & the District of Columbia which made it legal,” Greenwald recently tweeted while defending Gaetz.
That quoted quote is from my link. Is the quote incorrect? Because it seems to suggest that the age of consent in states relevant to the Gaetz story is not 18.
As for considering legal guilt, I'm not. Sure, it looks damned suss on the face of it. And yeah, I tend to be of the opinion that the further the age gap gets from the old "half your age plus seven" guide, the odds of a relationship between equals gets lower and the odds of exploitation seem to get higher. And Gaetz looks like a sleazebag in the style of Roy Moore or Berlusconi, and Greenwald is well past his days of being "world renowned".
But hey, if it gets to court and turns out to be all a fit-up, it doesn't make Greenwald's comments about the age of consent any less misleading.
The point is Greenwalds quote is factually accurate for the US and yet you are repeatedly claiming its missleading. So we need to see the part of the conversation where Gaetz exoneration is supposedly implied by Greenwald. Unfortunately for some reason the author left it out though.
Daamit. If only there were some sort of computer algorithm or website that let us search for a direct quote across all the www in the hope of finding an original source. I guess we can never truly know the tru- oh wait here's the exact thread.
Wow, context really does help. Greenwald seems to be arguing that if a person is above the age of consent in some of the US states (in some circumstances), "woman" is always a more applicable term than "minor".
Thats just the same tweet again, doesn' t show me any earlier tweets. It also seems more clear that Greenwald intended that tweet in the general US context than before.
In his zeal to disparage one of the few decent American intellectuals, one "millsy" writes, sans evidence, that "Greenwald has swung to the right in recent years", and then compounds that outlandish, unsupported statement with something that is plain false, viz., "The guy thinks Tucker Carlson is a 'socialist'." There is no evidence, anywhere, that Glenn Greenwald has ever said anything that even implies that.
“I would describe a lot of people on the right as being socialist. I would consider Steve Bannon to be socialist. I would consider the 2016 iteration of Donald Trump the candidate to be a socialist, based on what he was saying. I would consider Tucker Carlson to be a socialist.”
– Glenn Greenwald, on the Daily Caller, 3 March 2021
I don't normally engage with you anymore, you being a lost cause and hopeless case, especially considering the amount you're moderated and me not wanting to get caught up in your maladies, but on this occasion, tell me where "a bit further down" I should have been reading?
Of course you don't get moderated..are far as I can see you are a 'colour inside the lines' kind of guy..not that there is anything wrong with that.
…read down to where he explains what he meant by socialist…" not allow unconstrained immigration, and then take better care of our own working class people, and not allow this kind of transnational, global, corporatist elite to take everything for themselves under the guise of neoliberalism,”
I guess he is getting political crossover confused with Socialism, but he is not wrong about that crossover.
@arkie, You left out this bit of important context, not on purpose I am sure."“I think the vision is, you know, you have this kind of right wing populism, which really is socialism, that says we should close our borders, not allow unconstrained immigration, and then take better care of our own working class people, and not allow this kind of transnational, global, corporatist elite to take everything for themselves under the guise of neoliberalism,”
I used the pull quote used in the article in the second link, the context is present in the video straight from the Daily Caller site in the first.
You take my desire for an accurate discussion on this forum as malicious or a defense of the status quo, not on purpose I am sure, but as a leftist, I think Greenwald is just wrong in his understanding of socialism, and it does it no favour to be associated or equated to right wing populism, they are fundamentally at odds and it needs to be constantly repeated.
You may be are right in that Greenwalds understanding of Socialism leaves a bit to be desired, but I think that his point of there being some crossover with traditional conservatives and Socialists (in the US) in their views on the working classes/unions, end to US foreign interventions/wars and of course their mutual hatred of freemarket neoliberalism is a good point.
In fact I would say that anyone with real progressive Socialist political plans have more to fear from the Freemarket Liberal Centrists in the short term than they do from the Right or Conservatives, as was proven out in the open for us all to see vis a vis Corbyn and Sanders.
Where are these traditional conservatives that are similar to socialists in their views on the working classes/unions? Certainly not any of those above that Greenwald listed so there is no ‘point’ there.
If you think the answers to the pressing issues of our time will come solely through electoral politics then I think you are entitled to your fear but I do not proscribe to such a worldview.
Banks give money away, inflation is higher than interest rates. Affected: Those who save or have savings (pensioners, first home buyers etc..). Hahahahahaha… yeah lets just spend spend spend and print money… what a sound concept that is.
Meanwhile… we are certainly not raising a generation that will participate being part of the community and has to be supported by the taxpayers. Years 1-11 attending less than 70 per cent (of learning days).
Individuals who need immediate essential help can get up to six weeks of benefit payments which is then repaid back. Since 2016, the number of beneficiaries asking to be paid early has been steadily rising – almost 230,000 in this year's March quarter, at a cost of $87 million.
…
“What we're seeing is the need being met in a way that’s not sustainable,” advocate Kay Bereton said. She was on the Government's Welfare Expert Advisory Group three years ago and says beneficiaries need to earn more and private landlords incentivised to take them in.
“People are paying 80, 90, 110 per cent of their benefit income on their rent and there’s just not enough left,” Bereton said.
You need to read the post by Mickey, Labour is raining down money on our poor unfortunate unemployed. Its gonna come gushing down the drains that windfall of $ 57 (before tax lol) over the next 2.5 years.
They just simply care no more then National does. I think that myth should finally be put to rest.
I have seen enough in my community over the last year to not expect anything else but hardship. Couched in some cynical sugar coated baby babbling about kindness and niceness and gentleness. Not for the poor, now they need the hard treatment. Lest they get comfortable in their poorness.
And here we see how Tory all our parties are in regards to the unemployed and other unfortunate poor and those that actually can't be shoved back into work due to physical and other issues.
But Sepuloni says the Government has created change.
“On top of the income support that we've increased and provided better access to through the welfare system, we've been working really hard to provide access to employment and the upskilling,” she said.
But the National Party doesn’t buy it.
“With an increase in the number of people on Job-Seeker Benefit over 80,000 since Labour came into office, more people are doing it tough and we don’t think the Government is doing enough to support them into employment,” National’s Louise Upston said.
“In the last quarter we've seen the largest exits off benefits into work than what we've seen since 1996 when electronic records started to be kept,” Sepuloni maintained.
Yeah, shove them into what ever jobs never mind they are still on a benefit, cause they still can't pay a rent, food and shoes at the same time.
Carmel Sepuloni can't soon enough join her predecessor in selling property, as is befitting such callous people.
On top of the article is a little clip about a guy who just received a rent increase of over 100 NZD, cause why not. Obviously someone will pay it, if not him who cares…
Watch it without noise, just the writing over the images.
From the article seems to me like the tenant had a very generous landlord only charging $370 for over 2 years! (Think of all the money the tenant has saved over those two years by being lucky enough to have such cheap rent). Now the tenant complains when the rent finally increases to $525 (which is still cheap as the average is $560).
I guess as Grant Robertson says, if he considers the increase unfair, he simply moves out to another place.
???? the real world is charging rent way beyond what can be afforded. This is why the taxpayer forks out 1 Million a day (let this melt on your tongue) to support the landlords collecting these extraordinary amounts.
Solid in depth interview with David Bell, the whistleblower at the Tavistock in the UK which treats children with gender dysphoria. He’s just retired so is now able to speak freely.
Lots of important issues in this case: the over medicalisation of children, the ideological influence of lobby groups, the fact that when the GIDS clinic was finally taken to court it was unable to present evidence for efficacy or not of treatment or even data on number and ages of children treated, that so many people are afraid to speak out.
Two things that stand out particularly, which are related to that last one. The number of girls being referred for treatment of gender dysphoria has exploded exponentially. Could be an increase in awareness of need for treatment or it could be a developing social dynamic where girls now experience bring female as so difficult they’d rather transition. But we don’t know because GIDS failed in its basic requirement for record keeping, because public discussion and academic inquiry has been so suppressed.
Hence we have the situation of teen girls and young women eventually having non reversible medical and surgical treatments like double mastectomies and hormone treatments that leave them sterile, and finding their gender dysphoria remains unresolved and later they detransition. Many are lesbian and end up resuming life as lesbian women but with permanently altered bodies. Think about that in the current debate about conversion therapy.
Which leads us to the second point. The left is actively complicit in this by its refusal to allow debate of women’s rights in relation to trans rights and discussion of the issues by the public and academia. Bell notes the chilling effect generally from the left, and gender critical feminists have been writing about this for years now and are still being written off as transphobes. This article is a good exploration of the issues because it’s outside that political arena but still clinical people were afraid to speak and those that did faced sanctions.
The left needs to take a long hard look at itself and what it’s freeze peach, no debate rhetoric is doing.
Didn’t get back to this, but thanks so much for posting. Yes some on the left are complicit with this and have swallowed uncritically the gender identity narrative, which is pushed as the only way to think.
there is an annual fair held in Masterton (book fair I think) and every year they have a Harry Potter quiz for kids. This year it has been canceled because of JK Rowling’s so called trans phobic comments
But we don’t know because GIDS failed in its basic requirement for record keeping, because public discussion and academic inquiry has been so suppressed.
Two thoughts. You'd think that GIDS' record keeping would be absolutely first class… bearing in mind that for many of their patients' treatment would involve chemical and surgical interventions (to mostly healthy bodies) with irreversible effects. It's almost as if GIDS never expected to ever have to be held accountable or face close public/judicial scrutiny.
The suppression and de- platforming of anyone with an opinion that is counter to the 'accepted narrative' has gone beyond concerning. It is Orwellian, and truly frightening.
Between this issue and Te Virus (origin, symptoms, treatments, supportive therapies and vaccines etc) I have read many, many articles and research papers that are automatically dismissed because they run (even slightly) counter to what fuck knows who decided is The Truth.
Respect, weka, for continuing to bring this issue to the fore.
Where do our tax dollars go? A wee it of a run down of motels in Rotorua that house 'district clients' aka homeless New Zealand families, kids, and anyone in between with no fixed abode.
District Clients, i wonder how much time was spend to come up with that euphemism and if it involved any sense of shame even just typing them. They are not clients, they are homeless. And thus as Stephanie Rodgers said a few years ago, the state gave up. Charity even government Charity is now business and homeless kiwis become 'district clients'
Jimmy, when you are passionate about an issue/s then you make time.
I maybe from the centre-right side of the divide but I don’t generally visit political blogs that align with my views as they tend to be echo chambers, only reinforcing my views.
I like coming here and hearing from commentators such as Sabine because it challenges my view point. On housing and alleviation of poverty Sabine makes some very salient points.
I agree Sabine does make some interesting comments but genuinely wondered how They find the time as some of the comments are quite long and detailed and obviously a lot of thought has gone in to them.
She finds the time as much as you do. But she has lived poverty, homelessness, sexual abuse, and such, so she knows it. She remembers being poor, hungry, cold, and being fucked around by some very comfortable people in very comfortable offices with very comfortable salaries that could not care one bit about hte damage they heep onto already damaged people.
Poverty and homelessness are my fights. I understand them. There are many things that are being discussed here on the Standard or elsewhere were i contribute by not saying a thing. But poverty, homelessness that is something that i understand in detail. Hunger i understand. What i still grapple with today is being so comfortable all your life that one takes wellbeing and riches for granted, while i can't enjoy mine of the moment because i don't want to get used to it. 🙂 Poverty does fuck one up for a long time.
An inquiry into a police spy scandal (which had its origins decades ago) is currently in progress in Britain. For those who might be interested, I leave here two podcasts which give some idea of the pernicious activity of the under-cover police officers involved, and how it affected the lives of many decent, law abiding British folk – women in particular.
Each podcast is 30 minutes in actual length and well worth the listen. The amount of wasted police hours and the over-all astronomical cost is in itself a scandal.
The time is overdue for a similar inquiry in NZ because the NZ Police ran a similar campaign here for years. It began in the 1970s around the time Muldoon became PM – no surprises there.
They infiltrated organisations which they perceived to be left-wing and therefore posed a threat to society. The NZ Labour Party was one of them. Incredibly hard to believe but it is true.
I know the identity of two people who acted in an undercover capacity (there would have been others) and who spied on me for years. I was also used by one of them to elicit information which I happily supplied… thinking the friendship was genuine. The fallout proved to be extremely harrowing for me.
The damage that was done to many innocent individuals was huge and is, in itself, worthy of a government initiated investigation into past police practices.
An inquiry is required or access to a highly qualified QC at no cost.
I do think those who have been mistreated (understated) and then have confronted the police and not had the issue resolved when superiors have sanctioned what was done, there needs to be consequences for the police.
Muldoon either told the office of the commissioner of police to use police resources to harm innocent people or the office of the Commissioner of Police acted unlawfully.
I will listen to the links you provided and I was aware of women being exploited by the police covertly. Years have not faded the injustice. Finding ways to live with the harm done is how I deal with it.
Muldoon was responsible for politicising the NZ police in the first place and it continued long after he was gone. Some of the behaviour was scurrilous and imo unlawful, and those of us on the receiving end were left high and dry without a shred of support from anyone.
It was a truly disgraceful period in the history of the NZ police and will remain so until they or the government front up and conduct a full inquiry.
The government cannot ignore those who are brave enough to speak out against a serious historical situation even though 40 – 45 years have gone by. When it comes to an operational police matter the office of the commissioner needs to have a process in place where a person can get the answers to why it was done to them. The person who it was done to needs to be able to say how it impacted.
For sure there would have been files and establishing who controlled the files is where I would start.
I managed to establish long since why they targeted me. It related to my father and a situation in the early 1970s they had misinterpreted. The police special branch in those days were a brash and ignorant lot. When I later joined the Labour Party they started on me.
You deserve an explanation as to what was misinterpreted and by whom, I hope you get one.
I was summoned to CIB in 1979 when 19 because I told a cop I was going to go to the newspaper in 2 weeks time. For 2 years I had to listen through the media about what was done to Moyle by the police and Muldoon knowing the cop had told me in March 1976. In late 2003 he said to me, "If you did it and I didn't report it."
Dealing with a cop perjuring himself at an inquiry (December 1976 and cops name was released mid April 1978) all on my own caused a huge impact. I worked at a police barracks in early 1976 and no one from there ever gave me a thought as to what I knew or how I was. I dated the cop for 6 months and he was involved in the Moyle incident in 17 June 1975. Every approach made toward the police had an impact. I am thinking about giving it one last go with Coster as it was a police commissioner's file. The cop was a fool as he probably has a case against the way his employer used him.
I am aware of you previously raising your interminable situation due to there being an impasse with the police.
I was not a party to anything, but a jealous and vindictive 'friend' made false claims in high places and together with the background I alluded to earlier… it resulted in me becoming "a person of interest".
While Muldoon was in office under-cover persons linked to the police committed practices that at the very least were corrupt, and at worst were possibly criminal in their execution. When I started investigating I never imagined for a moment there was a police element to my case. The relatively recent discovery shocked me to the core. But it has made me even more resolute that justice is going to prevail one day.
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TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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The substandard Grauniad opinionist James Ball had a go at Glenn Greenwald
Bad mistake. Very, very bad mistake….
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1388884000270438402
Greenwald has swung to the right in recent years mind you. The guy thinks Tucker Carlson is a 'socialist'.
And defended Matt Gaetz with the angle that no charges have been made so folks are jumping the gun, and some pretty shonkey interpretation of the term "age of consent"..
I found the original article on his substack, but screw him, here's a response to the tweet teasers he sent of it.
Oh goodness
I began a 17 year span relationship with the father of my four children at the age of 16, first child at 18 , and he was some years older than me
Crikey , the Florida law would have me as a tragic victim of rape, a characterisation I don't share. It was a good relationship and I have no regrets.
Believe me , if that was rape, I far prefer it to the violent kind, which is absolutely devastating
But carry on , with your mansplaining of rape semantics
Yes, my comment was totes all about you (and had nothing to do with Greenwald claiming an age of consent of 17 when in fact the law in several of the relevant states was that the sexual partners of a man in his thirties need to be aged at least 18). /sarc
And my comment referred largely to the Florida law
But I also remember well your Assange rape comments
See, here's the thing: we can get into a debate about the ethics of a 31 year old having sex with a 17 year old, we can debate the semantics of whether that, in many instances, would involve a de facto power imbalance to the point of negating informed consent for someone of the younger age and thereby possibly constituting sexual assault or rape in a specific case, or even whether the Floridian legislation is appropriate (often a doubtful issue).
But my comment had nothing to do with any of that.
Greenwald's efforts to defend a 31yo representative who allegedly had sex with a person under the age of consent include a basic misunderstanding of age of consent legislation in the relevant jurisdictions. Feel free to address that point at any time.
"or even whether the Floridian legislation is appropriate (often a doubtful issue)."
in my case an injustice would have been done
Can't remember responding to your Greenwald statements..in fact didn't , rather addressed the Florida law as it applied to my personal circumstances
Feel free McFlock
Interesting use of the reply button, then.
But whatevs. Your relationship as a 16yo with a 26yo was fine. Fair enough.
Were you in Florida at the time? I suspect not. So the Florida law is still irrelevant. Just as Gaetz apparently using venmo to pay a 17yo for sex has nothing to do with NZ prostitution law.Heck, in Russia or Alabama you could have started procreating at something like 14. That is equally irrelevant to Greenwald's apparent commitment to reality.
But in a thread about Greenwald, again, whatever Gaetz did or didn't do and the legality about those alleged actions is irrelevant. The fact is Greenwald, a former reporter still much respected as a blogger ( 👿 ) by some commenters here, is using a fundamentally incorrect understanding of applicable law to defend Matt Gaetz.
How old was he, if you don't mind me asking?
As Francesca said:
16+some
10 years older
Not as big an age gap as the Florida senator, who is pushing 20 years older than the girls he was "with".
Also age of consent laws are generally older than 16 in the USA.
Indeed Millsy
18 in some states , which would have made my partner a rapist
Sex we can' live with it and can't do without it. All these thousands of years and we still are arguing about every aspect of it and building higher soapboxes to declaim about it.
she was seventeen, he was over thirty.
mind its not only the sex with a minor (statuatory rape) that is at Gaetzes problem it is the trafficking a minor across statelines for the prupose of sex (Man Act) , and paying her for the services.
so there is the issue with what would be considered statuatory rape
then there is the issue of moving a underage person across statelines is of a different nature altogether.
and paying for sex and receiving making money of sex by pimping a girl ( in this case) out.
So even if the statuatory rape charges could be thrown out – and chances are if they stood alone know one would care tbh, it would still leave sex trafficking and pimping. Not sure what Glenn has to say about that.
https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/state-crime/pandering-laws-florida.htm#:~:text=In%20Florida%2C%20it%20is%20a,(Fla.&text=For%20more%20information%20on%20prostitution%20laws%20generally%2C%20see%20Prostitution.
but screw him…
He's the world's most renowned journalist, and that's your considered response.
The fact that he stands for the principle of free speech (which leads him to support people you have scoffed at and/or vilified, such as Edward Snowden and Julian Assange) and the principle that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty, is no doubt the key driver of your animus towards him.
Morrissey it says volumes about McFlock and Co that they side with the Authoritarian Right in attacking the journalist whose work actually freed from wrongful imprisonment one of the most important Left wing politicians in the world today…like I said before, these people are just Liberal Imperialists who haven't seen a western led sanction, foreign intervention or war that they didn't like in a long long time.
Glenn Greenwald Took on the Authoritarian Right in Brazil — and Won
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/04/glenn-greenwald-securing-democracy-review-death-threats-journalism-leaks-lula
On the contrary, McFlock is not necessarily against the presumption of innocence. Just that in this situation its a bit of a hinderance to 'throw everything at the courts and let them sort it out', which is after all just good politics is it not.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-04-2021/#comment-1790353
[link fixed]
Nah dude.
All I'm saying about Gaetz is that if "the world's most renowned journalist" comes to your defence and he finds it necessary to mislead people about the age of consent, you might want to top up your budget for an actual legal defense.
Although a line I used about poverty a few years back also seems to bode poorly for Gaetz' future before I even recall hearing about the individual:
See, the thing about that is the only source I saw was where Greenwald both describes the age of consent as being 18 in Virginia and that there really need to be charges before considering Gaetz guilt. So if Greenwald is missleading people I need to see where he is doing that (and this point was elided from your prior link).
That quoted quote is from my link. Is the quote incorrect? Because it seems to suggest that the age of consent in states relevant to the Gaetz story is not 18.
As for considering legal guilt, I'm not. Sure, it looks damned suss on the face of it. And yeah, I tend to be of the opinion that the further the age gap gets from the old "half your age plus seven" guide, the odds of a relationship between equals gets lower and the odds of exploitation seem to get higher. And Gaetz looks like a sleazebag in the style of Roy Moore or Berlusconi, and Greenwald is well past his days of being "world renowned".
But hey, if it gets to court and turns out to be all a fit-up, it doesn't make Greenwald's comments about the age of consent any less misleading.
So you didn't see the start of that thread either?
If you have a point, feel free to elaborate.
The point is Greenwalds quote is factually accurate for the US and yet you are repeatedly claiming its missleading. So we need to see the part of the conversation where Gaetz exoneration is supposedly implied by Greenwald. Unfortunately for some reason the author left it out though.
Daamit. If only there were some sort of computer algorithm or website that let us search for a direct quote across all the www in the hope of finding an original source. I guess we can never truly know the tru- oh wait here's the exact thread.
Wow, context really does help. Greenwald seems to be arguing that if a person is above the age of consent in some of the US states (in some circumstances), "woman" is always a more applicable term than "minor".
Thats just the same tweet again, doesn' t show me any earlier tweets. It also seems more clear that Greenwald intended that tweet in the general US context than before.
It shows me the thread when I scroll up or down. Even when I logged out.
Not sure if I can help you use twitter.
Then again he might not be trying to mislead anyone, but instead shock horror – use twitter to express his liberal personal views.
He was quoting excerpts of his latest blog post.
citation required
In his zeal to disparage one of the few decent American intellectuals, one "millsy" writes, sans evidence, that "Greenwald has swung to the right in recent years", and then compounds that outlandish, unsupported statement with something that is plain false, viz., "The guy thinks Tucker Carlson is a 'socialist'." There is no evidence, anywhere, that Glenn Greenwald has ever said anything that even implies that.
– Glenn Greenwald, on the Daily Caller, 3 March 2021
https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/03/glenn-greenwald-interview-tucker-carlson-socialism-christian-datoc-omeed-malik-populism/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/why-glenn-greenwald-says-tucker-carlson-is-a-true-socialist.html
I looked out of the window and saw three monkeys running for the hills.
Shot! Right between the sock puppet's eyes lol
Al1en, As usual you are shooting blanks….maybe try reading a bit further down next time.
I don't normally engage with you anymore, you being a lost cause and hopeless case, especially considering the amount you're moderated and me not wanting to get caught up in your maladies, but on this occasion, tell me where "a bit further down" I should have been reading?
Cheers.
Of course you don't get moderated..are far as I can see you are a 'colour inside the lines' kind of guy..not that there is anything wrong with that.
…read down to where he explains what he meant by socialist…" not allow unconstrained immigration, and then take better care of our own working class people, and not allow this kind of transnational, global, corporatist elite to take everything for themselves under the guise of neoliberalism,”
I guess he is getting political crossover confused with Socialism, but he is not wrong about that crossover.
Which post number is that?
1.1.2.1.3
I first posted at 4.32pm, and the post you made at 1.1.2.1.3, was done at 5.57pm.
So when you say "maybe try reading a bit further down next time", what you really meant was 'try reading into the future'.
Firing blanks you say lol
I meant read further down the piece linked too that the quote came from… 1.1.2.1
https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/03/glenn-greenwald-interview-tucker-carlson-socialism-christian-datoc-omeed-malik-populism/
FYI, The Al1en has been moderated and banned before. However, they have learned to self-moderate. I do like your colouring-in metaphor 😀
Every day is a lesson
@arkie, You left out this bit of important context, not on purpose I am sure."“I think the vision is, you know, you have this kind of right wing populism, which really is socialism, that says we should close our borders, not allow unconstrained immigration, and then take better care of our own working class people, and not allow this kind of transnational, global, corporatist elite to take everything for themselves under the guise of neoliberalism,”
I used the pull quote used in the article in the second link, the context is present in the video straight from the Daily Caller site in the first.
You take my desire for an accurate discussion on this forum as malicious or a defense of the status quo, not on purpose I am sure, but as a leftist, I think Greenwald is just wrong in his understanding of socialism, and it does it no favour to be associated or equated to right wing populism, they are fundamentally at odds and it needs to be constantly repeated.
You may be are right in that Greenwalds understanding of Socialism leaves a bit to be desired, but I think that his point of there being some crossover with traditional conservatives and Socialists (in the US) in their views on the working classes/unions, end to US foreign interventions/wars and of course their mutual hatred of freemarket neoliberalism is a good point.
In fact I would say that anyone with real progressive Socialist political plans have more to fear from the Freemarket Liberal Centrists in the short term than they do from the Right or Conservatives, as was proven out in the open for us all to see vis a vis Corbyn and Sanders.
The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.
Where are these traditional conservatives that are similar to socialists in their views on the working classes/unions? Certainly not any of those above that Greenwald listed so there is no ‘point’ there.
If you think the answers to the pressing issues of our time will come solely through electoral politics then I think you are entitled to your fear but I do not proscribe to such a worldview.
subscribe
Thank you for such a thoughtful and important contribution to this thread.
It's a secret, but we can't tell you why it's a secret.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9497015/Lawmakers-want-immediate-release-secret-docs-Saudi-role-9-11.html
Interesting times, where in the end the general public will have to pay:
Political Correctness, payable by the taxpayer and certainly the elderly:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-democracy-reporting/300288785/twostorey-senior-housing-complex-without-a-lift-makes-no-sense-says-councillor
Neglect without consequence for those highly paid. Representing the community and yes, you guessed it, the community will pay:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124971151/councils-risk-credit-rating-downgrades-if-they-do-not-spend-enough-on-infrastructure-sp-says
Banks give money away, inflation is higher than interest rates. Affected: Those who save or have savings (pensioners, first home buyers etc..). Hahahahahaha… yeah lets just spend spend spend and print money… what a sound concept that is.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/124980580/bank-term-deposit-rates-are-so-low-savers-cant-be-bothered-putting-savings-in-them
Meanwhile… we are certainly not raising a generation that will participate being part of the community and has to be supported by the taxpayers. Years 1-11 attending less than 70 per cent (of learning days).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/truancy-crisis-30000-chronically-absent-students-out-of-reach-for-under-funded-services/XPONVFNFHPRENHBC2SE3XDK7SY/
The week started well. Perhaps someone can provide highlights that mitigate the above and make things look a bit better.
Record advance welfare payouts (=debt) as housing swallows income in last quarter. (2m clip in story). https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/over-200-000-early-welfare-benefit-payments-have-been-paid-in-last-three-months-figures-show
You need to read the post by Mickey, Labour is raining down money on our poor unfortunate unemployed. Its gonna come gushing down the drains that windfall of $ 57 (before tax lol) over the next 2.5 years.
They just simply care no more then National does. I think that myth should finally be put to rest.
Ta. Had not seen that post. Guess we have only a few more weeks to see how much they are prepared to put their money where their mouths have been.
I have seen enough in my community over the last year to not expect anything else but hardship. Couched in some cynical sugar coated baby babbling about kindness and niceness and gentleness. Not for the poor, now they need the hard treatment. Lest they get comfortable in their poorness.
And here we see how Tory all our parties are in regards to the unemployed and other unfortunate poor and those that actually can't be shoved back into work due to physical and other issues.
Yeah, shove them into what ever jobs never mind they are still on a benefit, cause they still can't pay a rent, food and shoes at the same time.
Carmel Sepuloni can't soon enough join her predecessor in selling property, as is befitting such callous people.
And Carmel Honey, providing access is as good as handing out a phone number. There you have provided access, now hire some people to actually answer the goddamn phone.
Also Carmel Ghoul, so the fact that people gone back to some jobs re Covid, is now something you celebrate? Maybe we need more pandemic so you can massage your stats a bit more?
from Sachas link https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/over-200-000-early-welfare-benefit-payments-have-been-paid-in-last-three-months-figures-show
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300290534/green-party-starts-new-push-for-reasonable-rent-controls-to-fix-very-sick-market
On top of the article is a little clip about a guy who just received a rent increase of over 100 NZD, cause why not. Obviously someone will pay it, if not him who cares…
Watch it without noise, just the writing over the images.
From the article seems to me like the tenant had a very generous landlord only charging $370 for over 2 years! (Think of all the money the tenant has saved over those two years by being lucky enough to have such cheap rent). Now the tenant complains when the rent finally increases to $525 (which is still cheap as the average is $560).
I guess as Grant Robertson says, if he considers the increase unfair, he simply moves out to another place.
Rent controls would ensure this didn't happen.
'I guess as Grant Robertson says, if he considers the increase unfair, he simply moves out to another place.'
Yes straight to emergency housing in a swamped market…
???? the real world is charging rent way beyond what can be afforded. This is why the taxpayer forks out 1 Million a day (let this melt on your tongue) to support the landlords collecting these extraordinary amounts.
Convert that money into houses. Short term government needs to ensure people can pay the shortfall in rent until homes are built..
Solid in depth interview with David Bell, the whistleblower at the Tavistock in the UK which treats children with gender dysphoria. He’s just retired so is now able to speak freely.
Lots of important issues in this case: the over medicalisation of children, the ideological influence of lobby groups, the fact that when the GIDS clinic was finally taken to court it was unable to present evidence for efficacy or not of treatment or even data on number and ages of children treated, that so many people are afraid to speak out.
Two things that stand out particularly, which are related to that last one. The number of girls being referred for treatment of gender dysphoria has exploded exponentially. Could be an increase in awareness of need for treatment or it could be a developing social dynamic where girls now experience bring female as so difficult they’d rather transition. But we don’t know because GIDS failed in its basic requirement for record keeping, because public discussion and academic inquiry has been so suppressed.
Hence we have the situation of teen girls and young women eventually having non reversible medical and surgical treatments like double mastectomies and hormone treatments that leave them sterile, and finding their gender dysphoria remains unresolved and later they detransition. Many are lesbian and end up resuming life as lesbian women but with permanently altered bodies. Think about that in the current debate about conversion therapy.
Which leads us to the second point. The left is actively complicit in this by its refusal to allow debate of women’s rights in relation to trans rights and discussion of the issues by the public and academia. Bell notes the chilling effect generally from the left, and gender critical feminists have been writing about this for years now and are still being written off as transphobes. This article is a good exploration of the issues because it’s outside that political arena but still clinical people were afraid to speak and those that did faced sanctions.
The left needs to take a long hard look at itself and what it’s freeze peach, no debate rhetoric is doing.
https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/02/tavistock-trust-whistleblower-david-bell-transgender-children-gids
https://twitter.com/timbarnsley1/status/1388809500388384769?s=21
But we don’t know because GIDS failed in its basic requirement for record keeping, because public discussion and academic inquiry has been so suppressed.
Two thoughts. You'd think that GIDS' record keeping would be absolutely first class… bearing in mind that for many of their patients' treatment would involve chemical and surgical interventions (to mostly healthy bodies) with irreversible effects. It's almost as if GIDS never expected to ever have to be held accountable or face close public/judicial scrutiny.
The suppression and de- platforming of anyone with an opinion that is counter to the 'accepted narrative' has gone beyond concerning. It is Orwellian, and truly frightening.
Between this issue and Te Virus (origin, symptoms, treatments, supportive therapies and vaccines etc) I have read many, many articles and research papers that are automatically dismissed because they run (even slightly) counter to what fuck knows who decided is The Truth.
Respect, weka, for continuing to bring this issue to the fore.
+1
Hear hear Weka. Will respond more in full later. Busy day
Where do our tax dollars go? A wee it of a run down of motels in Rotorua that house 'district clients' aka homeless New Zealand families, kids, and anyone in between with no fixed abode.
District Clients, i wonder how much time was spend to come up with that euphemism and if it involved any sense of shame even just typing them. They are not clients, they are homeless. And thus as Stephanie Rodgers said a few years ago, the state gave up. Charity even government Charity is now business and homeless kiwis become 'district clients'
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/homeless-crisis-top-10-emergency-housing-motel-earners-in-rotorua-revealed/U3HR6LGT7OBJBNNKRJZVKLUZ4E/
https://twitter.com/bootstheory/status/963923595238846464
How do you get the time to spend so much time on TS Sabine? I haven't counted but almost half the comments on here seem to be from yourself today.
Jimmy, when you are passionate about an issue/s then you make time.
I maybe from the centre-right side of the divide but I don’t generally visit political blogs that align with my views as they tend to be echo chambers, only reinforcing my views.
I like coming here and hearing from commentators such as Sabine because it challenges my view point. On housing and alleviation of poverty Sabine makes some very salient points.
I agree Sabine does make some interesting comments but genuinely wondered how They find the time as some of the comments are quite long and detailed and obviously a lot of thought has gone in to them.
She finds the time as much as you do. But she has lived poverty, homelessness, sexual abuse, and such, so she knows it. She remembers being poor, hungry, cold, and being fucked around by some very comfortable people in very comfortable offices with very comfortable salaries that could not care one bit about hte damage they heep onto already damaged people.
This one to me is close. Also i am She / her.
I find that I can only fight so many battles at once without losing quality – but I appreciate most of your comments – so, as the Koreans say, 화이팅!
Poverty and homelessness are my fights. I understand them. There are many things that are being discussed here on the Standard or elsewhere were i contribute by not saying a thing. But poverty, homelessness that is something that i understand in detail. Hunger i understand. What i still grapple with today is being so comfortable all your life that one takes wellbeing and riches for granted, while i can't enjoy mine of the moment because i don't want to get used to it. 🙂 Poverty does fuck one up for a long time.
An inquiry into a police spy scandal (which had its origins decades ago) is currently in progress in Britain. For those who might be interested, I leave here two podcasts which give some idea of the pernicious activity of the under-cover police officers involved, and how it affected the lives of many decent, law abiding British folk – women in particular.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2020/dec/08/the-spy-cops-scandal-part-1
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2020/dec/09/the-spy-cops-scandal-part-2
Each podcast is 30 minutes in actual length and well worth the listen. The amount of wasted police hours and the over-all astronomical cost is in itself a scandal.
The time is overdue for a similar inquiry in NZ because the NZ Police ran a similar campaign here for years. It began in the 1970s around the time Muldoon became PM – no surprises there.
They infiltrated organisations which they perceived to be left-wing and therefore posed a threat to society. The NZ Labour Party was one of them. Incredibly hard to believe but it is true.
I know the identity of two people who acted in an undercover capacity (there would have been others) and who spied on me for years. I was also used by one of them to elicit information which I happily supplied… thinking the friendship was genuine. The fallout proved to be extremely harrowing for me.
The damage that was done to many innocent individuals was huge and is, in itself, worthy of a government initiated investigation into past police practices.
An inquiry is required or access to a highly qualified QC at no cost.
I do think those who have been mistreated (understated) and then have confronted the police and not had the issue resolved when superiors have sanctioned what was done, there needs to be consequences for the police.
Muldoon either told the office of the commissioner of police to use police resources to harm innocent people or the office of the Commissioner of Police acted unlawfully.
I will listen to the links you provided and I was aware of women being exploited by the police covertly. Years have not faded the injustice. Finding ways to live with the harm done is how I deal with it.
Muldoon was responsible for politicising the NZ police in the first place and it continued long after he was gone. Some of the behaviour was scurrilous and imo unlawful, and those of us on the receiving end were left high and dry without a shred of support from anyone.
It was a truly disgraceful period in the history of the NZ police and will remain so until they or the government front up and conduct a full inquiry.
I tried to edit but ran out of time.
The government cannot ignore those who are brave enough to speak out against a serious historical situation even though 40 – 45 years have gone by. When it comes to an operational police matter the office of the commissioner needs to have a process in place where a person can get the answers to why it was done to them. The person who it was done to needs to be able to say how it impacted.
For sure there would have been files and establishing who controlled the files is where I would start.
I managed to establish long since why they targeted me. It related to my father and a situation in the early 1970s they had misinterpreted. The police special branch in those days were a brash and ignorant lot. When I later joined the Labour Party they started on me.
You deserve an explanation as to what was misinterpreted and by whom, I hope you get one.
I was summoned to CIB in 1979 when 19 because I told a cop I was going to go to the newspaper in 2 weeks time. For 2 years I had to listen through the media about what was done to Moyle by the police and Muldoon knowing the cop had told me in March 1976. In late 2003 he said to me, "If you did it and I didn't report it."
Dealing with a cop perjuring himself at an inquiry (December 1976 and cops name was released mid April 1978) all on my own caused a huge impact. I worked at a police barracks in early 1976 and no one from there ever gave me a thought as to what I knew or how I was. I dated the cop for 6 months and he was involved in the Moyle incident in 17 June 1975. Every approach made toward the police had an impact. I am thinking about giving it one last go with Coster as it was a police commissioner's file. The cop was a fool as he probably has a case against the way his employer used him.
I am aware of you previously raising your interminable situation due to there being an impasse with the police.
I was not a party to anything, but a jealous and vindictive 'friend' made false claims in high places and together with the background I alluded to earlier… it resulted in me becoming "a person of interest".
While Muldoon was in office under-cover persons linked to the police committed practices that at the very least were corrupt, and at worst were possibly criminal in their execution. When I started investigating I never imagined for a moment there was a police element to my case. The relatively recent discovery shocked me to the core. But it has made me even more resolute that justice is going to prevail one day.
Just on the facts as reported here, was there a sexual assault?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/124992156/novel-point-of-law-halts-court-martial-for-woman-in-air-force-charged-with-indecent-assault-and-drug-charges
Thought some would appreciate this..
https://twitter.com/noamchomskyT/status/1389077764083535875