What a joke ! No “deliberate” misuse. What it really means – ‘Misuse then ? Well, if you must…..but do remember, this was not my finest hour……’
“In October, she said Mr Key had a “cavalier” approach to the OIA and had shown a “disregard for the law”. Her comments were in relation to Mr Key’s admission that his office sometimes waited 20 days to release information if it was in its political interests. Asked about her comments today, she said they were “not her finest hour.”
That’s a shame. The ‘finest hour’ may come along in the course of the next sinecure.
I am fully expectant that Peter Boshier will be no ones’ poodle.
Another whitewash on the way. And if Departments don’t have the resources to deal with OIA requests, who is it that funds the departments to resource themselves?
Morning Report this morning – 17 and 18 year olds locked down in their cells for 23 out of 24 hours at Serco Mt Eden – Minister of Corrections Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga “declined to comment”.
What the hell is going on ? Are Corrections/Serco actually the Minister of Corrections here ? Peseta Sam the mute titular ?
Oh I get it…….”Responsibility Responsibility Responsibility !”…….National Party style.
That’s old news,
you need to read more foreign media, more often.
For some reason most “international” stuff & herald stories are about 2-3+ days behind the rest of the world.
He said few residents feared coalition airstrikes, although former residents of the city who have fled across the border to Turkey told the Guardian last week of civilian casualties suffered even under carefully targeted bombardment.
While children and elderly people are often startled and disturbed by the sounds of the explosions, activists say the airstrikes tend not to hit civilian areas. Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes as they tend to target civilian neighbourhoods.
Why on erath would he say that if it wasn’t true? You can check out the journo group ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourselves if you care to smear them, but good luck saying they are ‘fans’ of ISIS or in anyway supporters of them. Video of Russian helicopters dropping dumb bombs on urban areas are also not hard to find, though RT tend to prefer the snazzy pics of jest taking off and cruise missiles. The clusters of 4 heavy bombs smashing into a neighbourhood? not so much airtime on RT for some reason.
There appears to be a lot of opinion in that article, PB.
“Why on erath (earth) would he say that if it wasn’t true?”
Really? I’m gobsmacked that you would even think that.
I have a healthy distrust of the media, mainly because I’ve been working in it for the last 25+ years. (obviously I’m not a journo, my grammer sucks)
Always ask, why am I being told this and who benefits from the outcome.
Russia is going to stay in Syria, Assad will remain in power, Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase, and US/NATO complicity with ISIS and other extremist groups will become increasingly obvious.
Oh great, It’s Captain Know Nothing back with off-topic reckons for the thread.
How did you get on finding an example of a helicopter being shot down by a TOW?
And weren’t you saying just the other day that Putin agrees with you that Assad should go? Yep, you were, but you were just making shit up, coz it’s what you do.
Why would he say that “few residents feared coalition airstrikes”? Or why would he say “Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes…”?
My impression is that nothing quite gels. I mean he also says..
“Britain has a powerful intelligence service and knows where to strike and when, not like the coalition.” (Wide-eyed astonishment at that one from over here)
Who is he?
From the same article Tim Ramadan, the pseudonym of an activist and journalist working clandestinely in the city
No agenda and no line to spin then and…well, what is an activist in the context of a multi faceted war situation?
edit: one fairly reasonable reason for him spinning (if he is) would be if he’s aligned with any of the so-called moderate opposition targeted by Russia but not by ‘the coalition’, yes?
And yes, like much of rebel held Syria they hate Assad, and ISIS.
Which doesn’t make what they are saying ‘not true’, right?
But given what the coalition are doing and demanding, and what the Russians are doing and demanding, what motivation would they have to say what he said.
Why say the new strikes will be pointless in effect, and that the Russian strikes are hitting civilians more often? They want ISIS gone, they really hate ISIS. They are literally risking death doing what they are doing, these activists in Raqqa, some of them have been killed by ISIS.
So if it’s not true that the Russian attacks are more feared by the population than the wetsern attacks why say it?
Does it square with other evidence, like footage of attacks?
I’m not saying that certain claims are either true or not true. And I don’t have any reasonably informed opinion that could be applied to your questions.
Maybe the ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ site you mention is a reasonable conduit for information – I dunno. What I mean by that is that I haven’t given it more than a cursory glance atm.
My thoughts exactly. With so much misinformation and political points scoring going on, it’s hard to work out what’s actually going on..
But then, that’s the whole idea.
Russia has only one objective in Syria, the preservation of Tartus as it’s only western hemisphere naval base outside of the Crimea. Hey wait a minute, I’m seeing a connection here between russian adventures in the Ukraine and in Syria………
The preservation of their only open water naval base in Europe/Middle East. is their primary strategic goal, everything else, including war crimes and assad’s survival is secondary to this.
Stories in the press that Turkey are delaying Russian traffic through the Bosphorus for “administrative” reasons is an unwelcome power flex by the turks…..
Because he is directly responsible for the death of many hundreds of thousands of people and has no incentive to tell the truth
We live in an age where any media production, be it written word, audio or visual can be ‘created’, and should by default be treated as suspicious, fake or lies
IRONY ALERT: Paul “Kill Them All” Henry gets all serious and
denounces “the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.” Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 3 December 2015, 7:10 a.m.
hypocriten. 1. a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs; 2. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
In a supreme act of projection this morning, Paul “Kill Them All” Henry glared at the camera with his special “serious” expression and intoned: “It’s just the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
That’s an odd thing to say for someone who just two months ago was ranting about the “political correctness” gone mad of giving a ferry a Māori name…
anyone see this? My understand of the flag wastage was that anyone could either rank as per preference, or rank as little as one.
However here they say….rank all or ‘it won’t count’
Are they now giving out invalid/false information?
From the letter accompanying the voting paper: Instructions: A: Rank the flag designs in the order that you prefer them. You can rank as few or an many as you wish, from 1 to 5. Write 1 in the box under the flag you prefer most. Write 2 in the box under your next preferred flag, if you have one, and so on. Do not write the same number more than once.
No, what they are saying (I think) is that if you want to put your most hated flag ranked last, start with making it #5, but you then have to vote for #1, #2, #3, #4 as well or your vote will be invalid. Another example would be if you wrote #2 and #3 and nothing else, that would be invalid too. Presumably.
It’s still completely stupid advice from Fair Go given that we still don’t do this kind of voting well, but I think it reflects how fucked up the whole thing is when our state broadcaster feels the need to tell people how to vote based on the most hated design.
Thanks Weka – and I agree. It says something about the whole process/project if people need to be told how to express their hatred of designs in a way that does not invalidate their vote.
Apparently that QR code on your ballot paper contains a unique number that starts out tied to your name and is used to make sure no-one votes twice.
That means it is vital you don’t mark any part of that QR code.
If you do, it won’t be logged as a protest, probably just as an unreadable slip of paper.
You’d hope the Electoral Commission makes sure the names are stripped off the QR codes before that list of numbers is used to validate your voting paper, rendering them anonymous.
I have more than hope, I have a strong certainty, but the Electoral Commission is understandably a bit coy about explaining its internal security measures, so that’s the part we need to take on trust.
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Every voting paper has a secret number on it. If the same name is crossed off the roll more than once the number on the voting paper is opened so that the person can be checked/interviewed to see if he has voted twice. What he voted is immaterial. Could a dishonest person find out what you voted? Possible but you have to trust the integrity of staff. Works OK so far.
I see no reason why the Electoral Commission cannot be trusted to operate the system honestly and fairly. It would be a very risky proposition for the government of the day to try and interfere with a democratically run voting system such as ours. Voters of all stripes would reject them outright.
I’ve been saying on this board for years that the government can track how people vote and now you’re surprised to find that they can?
as for this bit:
You’d hope the Electoral Commission makes sure the names are stripped off the QR codes before that list of numbers is used to validate your voting paper, rendering them anonymous.
The name wouldn’t be in the QR code itself but the QR code will relate back to the name in the database.
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Actually, the problem is trusting the competency of the private firm that wrote the software.
Cameron and Key use practically interchangeable slurs when cornered by their opponents. It should remove any doubt as to whether Cameron or Key are cold, calculating sociopaths or a loudmouthed bully boys, because they are obviously both.
As do the Lib/Nats in Australia. Its why we have centre-left referred to as “hard Left” whilst they call themselves “centre Right” – it creeps into the MSM in NZ, Aus and GB within a very short time. Look at the how Tony Abbot’s “Death Cult” description of ISIS is now part of their vocab.
I’ve been waiting to hear JFK start talking about “the New Zealand People”. It started in the US and is common in Australia and GB. Another little gem is “the truth is ……… this or that”.
It’s what the hard Right CT do best, and they have their little disciples like Matty Hooten and Paul Henry doing their best to propagate the spin – consciously or not (going forward).
It’s not unlike those in the banking sector – you know – those expert economists.
The sharemarket always goes up or down “on the back of …… “.
(At this point in time) BEWARE THE BULLSHIT! (going forward)
This government sure seems to be getting a reputation for enabling “modern” slavery. I wish the labour party would make more of a fuss instead of letting NZFirst turn it into an anti-immigration issue. After all it is the LABOUR party. I wonder if the police are much involved in looking into this sort of stuff. Do they have a transnational crime expert there and if so what issues is he focusing on instead… Cocaine? Whipping up fear in the Asia-Pacific over ISIS?
Yet another disgraceful, extreme ten minutes from Dame Ann Leslie.
Why is this ghastly old trout accorded the status of “U.K. correspondent”?
RNZ National, Thursday 3 September 2015, 9:50 a.m.
KATHRYN RYAN: Our U.K. correspondent is Dame Ann Leslie and she is in London. Good morning!
DAME ANN LESLIE: Good morning!
KATHRYN RYAN: Crazy old world it is. Your parliament is having an intense debate tonight on whether to commit to bombing Daesh in Syria.
DAME ANN LESLIE: It’s absolutely unbelievable that this debate is taking one whole day. As is well known, Raqaa is the nerve centre of the bloody attacks on Paris. But our planes are obliged by an earlier decision of our parliament to avoid flying over Syrian air space. Now, you may detect a slight political bias in what I say next, but Labour with its new, rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn…. [she embarks on a rambling denunciation]… I think Cameron WILL win, but it will be nail-biting. I’ve lived long enough to know how unpredictable war is. There are some things we have to deal with, for example Turkey, which has been slightly pro-ISIL. They used to line their tanks up on the border, watching various factions fighting. Um, the thing is really, one of the main problems is Turkey, because they are aligned with Daesh, allowing Daesh’s oil across the border, which has been illegally acquired, to sell on the secret market. Then of course there is the other issue, which is sectarian basically, between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Turkey is making a mess of things, frankly.
KATHRYN RYAN: I’m looking at a comment by William Hague, saying don’t rule out British boots on the ground.
DAME ANN LESLIE:[wearily] Ohhh!
KATHRYN RYAN: Now people are talking about boots on the ground again.
DAME ANN LESLIE: Everybody agrees that this will be a long drawn out conflict. Destroying Daesh won’t work unless there are boots on the ground. The question is WHOSE boots?… I’ve worked a lot in the Middle East and it really is the MOST APPALLING MESS…
KATHRYN RYAN: All right. The question is: does the UK want to be ANYWHERE near it?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Well the thing is, we have been very stupid in the West. We had the idea that if we went into these Godforsaken countries we would be greeted with flowers from the people we had liberated. ….Then you get the appalling business of sectarianism. The Sunnis don’t want the SHIAS involved, and the Shias, especially Iran, don’t want the Sunnis involved…. I feel very depressed by the whole thing.
KATHRYN RYAN: Let’s finish with a festive note. Can festive fairy lights wreck the British Christmas?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Ofcom has said that fairy lights will wreck our traditional family Christmas, because they interfere with wi-fi. ….
Mercifully, the time pips start sounding….
KATHRYN RYAN:[with evident relief] Oh dear! Ten o’clock!
I sent the host of Nine to Noon the following email….
Dear Kathryn,
You allowed your U.K. correspondent Dame Ann Leslie to denounce Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left”. That was an extreme and biased comment by any measure, yet you chose not to challenge it, or even to politely ask her to explain why she had used such demeaning language.
Are you not allowed to challenge anything she says? Are you obliged to simply go along with it?
Yours in concern at the standards of public broadcasting,
+100… Dame Ann Leslie is such an obvious right wing Tory toff she is entertaining…she shouldnt be taken seriously…however she shouldnt be allowed blather along unchallenged ….surely Ryan can engage more with her and challenge her monologue occasionally ?
…and why cant we have Ken Livingstone on as a commentator to give the other side?…here he is on Sophie and Co
‘West discredited itself with invasions, able to stop nothing now – ex-mayor of London’
“After Islamic State strikes in the heart of Europe, nations are ramping up their security. Now, the debate rages about whether being secure or being free is the most important. And when jihadists attack, anti-Islamic sentiment gains momentum, with hate crimes threatening to spike out of control. How do you keep heads calm? Is bulk data collection, after all, needed for peace and stability? We pose these questions to a veteran British politician, former mayor of London – Ken Livingstone is on Sophie&Co today.”
She grew up in “the Punjab” dontcha know. She’s ‘very well connected’.
Whilst I admire Kathryn Ryan for much of what she does – she does like to maintain a ‘balanced portfolio’ and maintain an image of fairness and balance.
Challenging bullshit is just not the done thing dontcha know – even amongst those that consider themselves amongst the Kiwi-well-connected-elite (or the Elite Cult).
How else do you explain “The Panel’? (going forward)
Oh ….. btw, I notice The Dame hasn’t been on Dateline London for a very long, long time – perhaps Gav’s not been too kind to her, or his ‘bit of fluff’ doesn’t particularly like her condescension
Mora’s ‘The Panel’ is ghastly…I try never to listen to it!..In fact I find Dame Leslie more congenial ( dare I say it…I find her entertaining like a poncy aunty and I like the way she speaks)
Oh Morissey Darling! What a truly truly monstrous thing to say. Really! That’s horrid – really it is!
Why the Dame has a wealth of life’s experience, and Kathryn has launched a thousand carreers (including a few talking head ‘panelists’ we now hold so very very dear).
How dare you challenge them!
It really is such bad form!
/sarc (as if)
Pharmac have denied terminally ill people with melanoma a promising drug which has benefitted a third to two thirds of people with incurable melanoma. The cost is about $300,000 per person. Australia and the UK fund the drug but not stingy NZ. The cost of the drug would cost the government 30 million per year.
What upsets me the most is that the rich can afford to purchase the drug and a savvy poor person would have to fund raise, (which would require abundant energy).
It must be awful being an oncologist in NZ because of being limited when it comes to prescribing life saving drugs which Pharmac will not fund.
Pharmac, like most other government organisations, could do with a significant funding boost and no political interference (like the Herceptin campaign pledge).
It’s akin to manslaughter, allowing people to die, when they could be helped. Only the super wealthy can afford this drug. You wouldn’t even need to poor to be left to die, if you needed this drug.
There was a young man, just a teenager, with melanoma on telly the other night at yet another fundraiser for this particular drug, Keytruda I think it’s called. He said he has to raise $30K every 3 months. He has a givealittle page and he was at a fundraiser event when he being filmed.
His family and himself work full time on the fundraising. How frightening to be in his shoes, having your life depend on the kindness of strangers, and never knowing if there will be enough money. How do people fare who don’t have a supportive family and don’t have the strength to work out how to get absurd amounts of money out of thin air?
The other name is Pembrolizumab. The bro bit might be the generous people in NZ who donate to try and save a life e.g. the young 22 year old who has a give a little page.
“There is a rapidly emerging consensus that – as we discovered 80 years ago but then forgot – austerity is the wrong response to recession. We are learning that lesson all over again. Even in terms of its own stated objectives, austerity has failed; the supposedly central priority of eliminating the government’s deficit remains a long way from being achieved, while the deficit that really matters – the country’s continuing failure to pay its way – remains unattended to and is getting worse.
In the meantime, poverty and inequality increase, housing is increasingly unaffordable, net investment is virtually zero, the prospect of a revival in manufacturing is non-existent, and an unsustainable consumer boom fuelled by asset inflation underpins our rake’s progress to decline.?
Have to say, I was pretty convinced I was going to spoil my voting paper, but when it comes down to it, I really can’t be bothered even sending the thing in. And I’m a committe voter.
The clearest explanation of the evil of corporate tyranny and the death of democracy I’ve heard so far:
Democracy Sold Out To Greed
The video helps me to bring home that “Western democracy” is a sham, a total lie.
Every Western government and Washington’s Asian vassal states are totally under the control of private corporations and private interest groups. The corporations govern, and they are in the process of institutionalizing their governance with the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic Partnerships. The purpose of these “partnerships” is to make global corporations higher than the laws of the “sovereign” countries in which they do business.
Anything, whether law, rule, regulation, or moral principle that interferes with corporate profits is outlawed as “a resraint on trade.”
Western civilization is over and done with. Nothing remains except historical achievements that are no longer understood or appreciated.
..where is the NZ Labour Party on opposing this….neolib corporate fascist attempt at takeover of New Zealand democracy and sovereignty?…scarcely a peep!
Hi Comrade Rosie….yes I did see it and I didnt answer because Savenz answered for me…on the reasons why there needs to be a new Labour Mana Party
There are many reasons why the last Election was lost
1.)…Cunliffe was relentlessly attacked by the msm…and not supported by the Labour Party caucus even although he was the grassroots Labour vote….and it would seem that there has been a concerted campaign against him and his supporters on the Left of the Labour Party for some time
( here is what i asked on the Daily Blog)
“Is the ABC faction actually a fifth column?
…I mean looked at it historically, it has been going on at least as long as Shearer
2.) In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…gifting it to Jonkey nactional…Mana was working for the poorest of the poor in New Zealand ….this was unforgivable by the Labour party ….and it does not deserve to be called Labour
( …and it turns out that Lusk was apparently bribing Maori not to vote for Hone Harawira !….Nash has had dealings with Lusk
…”Simon Lusk also claimed on Story he had been instrumental in unseating Mana Party co-leader Hone Harawira in the last election. Unnamed “businessmen” had paid thousands for that, he said. And in conversation with his co-host last Monday, Duncan Garner said money had been paid to get Maori electors to vote in Te Tai Tokerau.
Was political operative Simon Lusk really paying people on behalf of clients to influence an election? Disappointingly, no more was said about this claim.The following day, Duncan Garner posted a statement from Simon Lusk on the websites of TV3’s Story and Radio Live. In it, Simon Lusk said:
Iwi now have extensive databases of members who they can easily mobilise. Assembling a team of 50 or 100 iwi members to get out the vote is straightforward, legal and effective if it is possible to raise some koha.
He added that “if you’re not paying for votes or offering anything in exchange for a vote, or treating,” it is not against the law. But that statement didn’t answer key questions: How much was paid? By whom? And for what purpose? …
…”Duncan Garner also revealed supporters of Labour’s Napier MP Stewart Nash paid Simon Lusk to canvas the option of a new political party…)
Now we have Little’s Labour demoting and shunning Cunliffe and Mahuta yet again….even although Mahuta brought in the Maori seats for Labour and Cunliffe was the Labour grassroots choice for leader ( Little cant even win his own seat, nor ccan Robertson and Adern)
Quite apart from all this, Labour has shown NO leadership in opposing the TPP
So yes I would support another “Labour” Mana Party which is genuinely Labour ( this Labour Party does not deserve the brand name “Labour”…It deserves to be taken off them)
“In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…”
Do you really believe this nonsense Chooky? I feel your heart is in the right place but this is nonsense. I like Hone Harawira very much and believe he is a good person, but he made a very stupid mistake signing up with Kim Dotcom.
He lost a lot of credibility with Māori in Northland because they felt he had sold out – unlike you I actually know many Northland Māori. He lost control of his party. He begged Dotcom not to have the “Moment of Truth” just before the election because Hone is politically astute enough to know that is would be distorted by the media and would lose the left votes, as it inevitably did. I was sitting very close to Hone that night and his unhappiness was obvious.
all Dotcoms fault then?…well Jonkey would certainly agree with you!…but it is a bit simplistic…and Dotcom was up against the corporates too …so whose side are you on?…certainly not Dotcom’s ( is this little Labour policy as well?)
…and I note you have carefully avoided any of the other points
I have been too busy with work to look at the Standard again until now – if I had I would have corrected my last line to “Davis deserved that seat.”
The reason I didn’t deal with your other “points” was that they were too ludicrous to bother with. If you really believe that Lusk had anything to do with Davis winning then you really are very foolish. You are actually doing exactly what Lusk et al want you to do – whether deliberately or through ignorance I have no idea.
If you actually read what I said a bit more carefully you would understand that I am not blaming Dotcom, I am saying when Mana signed up with Dotcom they not only lost a lot of credibility with many of their supporters, but Hone lost control of the party he had co-founded. Sue Bradford could see what would happen but Hone couldn’t.
I have been very impressed with Davis this year – why not look at what people do rather than indulge in ill-informed conspiracy theories.
Hi Chooky. Thanks for the thoughts. Have run out of time to respond in any meaningful way.
Except to say I totally get what you are saying about treatment of Mahuta and DC. I agree. I’m with you on that. I also saw the programme about Simon Lusk, his bribing of Maori voters of TTT and his connection with Nash. But, I’d say ditto to what Karen is saying below. It’s a long bow to draw a connection between Lusk and Kelvin Davis in TTT. Lusk just hated Hone. Fool that Lusk is.
Also, I still don’t think a new party will solve anything, help the left or the people that need left representation.
@ Rosie …i am not saying there is a connection between Davis and Lusk…where did I say that? ( reframing of the issues?)
I am saying Davis and Labour should NOT have stood against Hone Harawira and Mana Party …which were for the poorest of the poor
I am saying it looks as if Lusk paid Maori not to vote for Harawira
I am saying it looks as if there is a connection between Labour’s Nash and Lusk…on a different issue
( It would be very interesting to know exactly what other connections /dealings Lusk has had with New Zealand politicians…and Labour politicians…such connections would be very compromising indeed, I would imagine)
As regards a new Labour Mana Party…well it depends on how much you can stomach from the party which calls itself ‘Labour’ …and it depends on how many people feel there is a need for a new Labour Left (Mana)Party
…certainly there does seem some support for it given the treatment of Cunliffe ( the membership choice) and Mahuta (and the Maori seats)…and Harawira (and Mana)….and the Labour Party leadership non action on TPP
I don’t want to support any status quo Chooky. I’m feeling very uncomfortable /conflicted about being in Labour now. Check out my comments on the “Labour Mayor for Wellington” post if you want to see why I will not be voting for Labour Mayoral candidate Justin Lester.
Theres a shit load of stuff that may or may not happen in the next two years. We might yet be surprised. Holy moly, if David Cunliffe, in some weird twist of alternate reality become leader of the Greens then I’d party vote Green.
I am however, strongly opposed to voting for Labour ticket Justin Lester as Mayor of Wellington.
Cunliffe was born Labour and will die Labour.
He would never ever join another party.
While some Green values overlap or are complimentary to those of Labour the two parties are different.
No no no. Cunliffe is not leaving Labour. All of us should remain and make our best possible contributions to ensuring its values are protected and applied to real lives.
In many ways David Cunliffe is a better fit for the Greens….not least of all because the Greens are to the Left of Labour
( except for Greens idiotic championing of bloody Red Peak corporate flag which i blame on try hard Shaw and that other grinning baby face muggins Gareth Hughes..and a few others who i wont insult)
Just checked the ‘TransTasman’ so called ratings of Politicians.
What a laugh! Act’s noname on top rated highest. Nats good… Labour bad.
Dyson one of the hardest working MPs standing up for her constituents in Redcliffs even though they didn’t support her locally in the elections rated about lowest with the same rating as Nuk Nobody whom she thrashed and has nothing to say about Parata’s attack on the people of his pretend electorate of Port Hills.
Still we can’t expect any real information from a $500+ a year right wing rag started by national MP Hugh Templeton/s brother and bought out by another true blue right winger.
Right up Tracey Watkins alley this nonsense.
I listened to Mark Sainsbury a few times until his panel with the so-called views from the left and right consisted of 2 rightwing commentators. Happened a few times so turned off after that.
The commissioner running the Southern District Health Board will have her term extended under special legislation introduced to Parliament today, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has announced.
It means the promised return to a democratically elected board next year will not happen…
When the team was appointed in June, Dr Coleman said their term would finish on December 2 next year, shortly after the election of a new board.
I’m not surprised; as this slow motion disaster of an underfunded public health system down south has been a long time disintegrating. Also, it was only yesterday (a year to the day before the commissioner’s term was supposed to expire) that:
Auckland District Health Board’s chief medical officer has been named as the final member of the politically appointed group guiding the Dunedin Hospital redevelopment.
Although called the ”Southern Partnership Group”, four of its five members are in the North Island – three of them in Auckland.
What’s up with Stuff.co’s infuriating new recommended stories drop down menu? Hope they get enough feedback to get rid of it asap or give us a way to disable it permanently.
. . . there’s a bit of tweaking required for New Zealand specific sites and for when new “features” are imposed. The new drop down is to encourage clicks on what is euphemistically called “partner content” but, really, is advertising.
The front page of the November 29, 1947 edition of the New York Times read “[General] Assembly Votes Palestine Partition; Margin Is 33 to 13; Arabs Walk Out; Aranha Hails Work as Session Ends.”
Why were the Arabs angry? Because, for the indigenous Palestinians, the deal was a thoroughly bad one. Palestinians comprised approximately two-thirds of the population, yet were offered just 43 percent of their land in the deal.
“Aranha” refers to Osvaldo Aranha, a Brazilian diplomat. As president of the U.N. General Assembly, Aranha lobbied strongly on behalf of the Zionist movement (a settler colonialist Jewish nationalist political movement that called for the creation of the state of Israel). He delayed the vote on resolution 181 by two days in order to give the U.S. and other pro-Israel countries more time to pressure U.N. member states to vote for the plan. Scholar Fred Khouri writes that, in these two days:
“The United States and Zionists led the lobbying efforts of the pro-partition forces. The delegates, as well as the home governments, of Haiti, Liberia, Ethiopia, China, the Philippines, and Greece were swamped with telegrams, telephone calls, letters, and visitations from many sources, including the White House, congressmen, business corporations, and other fields of endeavor. As a result of these tremendous official and nonofficial pressures, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines finally agreed to vote for partition.”
These last-minute changes ensured that resolution 181 would have the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass.
The following is the U.N.’s map of the proposed partition. The blue areas comprising roughly 57 percent of the land were to be allotted to Jews; orange areas were to be allotted to Palestinians. Jerusalem was to be left under the governance of the international community, because of its historical and religious importance for numerous religions and cultures.
The Partition Plan was never implemented, however. The very next day after it was voted on, the 1947-1948 war broke out.
In this war, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed large portions of historic Palestine, sacking hundreds of Palestinian villages and expelling more than 750,000 people — around two-thirds of the indigenous Arab population. Prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappé notes that, in Israel’s Plan Dalet (also known simply as Plan D), “veteran Zionist leaders” created “a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” They dispatched military orders in March 1948, Pappé explains:
“The orders came with a detailed description of the methods to be employed to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centres; setting fire to homes, properties and goods; expulsion; demolition; and, finally, planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.”
Plan D “spelled it out clearly and unambiguously: the Palestinians had to go,” writes Pappé. …..
Denouncing Kylie Jenner took up nearly five minutes on The Panel today;
But not even one second of indignation about today’s decision to bomb Syria.
RNZ National, Thursday 3 December 2015, 4:56 p.m.
Jim Mora, Tony Doe, Annah Stretton, Julie Moffett
hypocrisyn. 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. 3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
JIM MORA: It is International Disabilities Day, which is a terrible coincidence, given the shootings in San Bernardino. And, ahhh, that has made what Kylie Jenner did, ahhh, a topic of discussion, much discussion on the internet. So Kylie Jenner from the Kardashian clan has angered disabled people by posing in a gold wheelchair for a magazine cover. And she’s got some kind of bleak, she’s aiming for a bleak sort of futuristic look, isn’t she, with her—she looks like a robot, she’s trying to look like a—
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah she does, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: And the quote going around the world, seeming to come from her but not actually, she didn’t say this, people are assuming she did, is: “Wow! Being in a wheelchair is so fun and fashionable!” So that is the, that is the quote being aired in, ahh, all the reports on this. …[baffled sigh]…. Would you put one of your models in a wheelchair?
ANNAH STRETTON: Snorts to show what she thinks of Kylie Jenner.
JIM MORA: This is the interesting question here.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah I don’t know why we’re giving this any air time. Ummm, y’know the reality of is it’s just stupid, as perhaps this whole thing is around the Kardashians, but, uh, no, no I wouldn’t put one of my models in a wheelchair. There IS a sensitivity around disability, and you know I would sit very uncomfortably with anything like this, and I just, I think this is just bizarre.
JIM MORA: Seventeen year old Ophelia Brown posted her own image and says “I wanted to show her that being in a wheelchair is not glamorous or fashionable or fun. A wheelchair’s a big part of my life. She seemed to be sitting on it for fun, or to look more edgy and cool, and I felt overwhelmed with annoyance and jealousy that she could just get in and out of a wheelchair.” And you can completely understand this reaction. But uh, errrrrmmm, it, it’s been defended as well. Uh errrr, people are saying, Look, you know, she didn’t necessarily mean anything by it, it’s just a shot of her in a wheel—- How do YOU view it, Tony?
TONY DOE:[lengthy pause] Tut. Yeah, “not necessarily meaning anything by it” is, errrr, it’s like “I was only obeying orders” or something like that isn’t it. I mean, you’re sort of INVOLVED, whether you like it or not, and the overall impression is, um, not good and to be fair, I mean these people, the Kardashians, they must have more P.R. advisers than Heaven knows who, and umm, you’d have thought that one of them might have tapped her on the shoulder and said, Oy, that’s not a very good idea doing that. Y’know, don’t because it’s gonna make, it’s bad for your image for a start, and it’s actually a rather crass and insensitive thing to do, so don’t do it.
JIM MORA: Or is the publicity the, is that what is the most important thing now? As with that—I don’t really wanna talk about the Caitlin Jenner billboard in Auckland, I mean, goodness knows it’s on the front pages of the online newspapers anyway. But, errrr, because not necessarily because it gives it oxygen, but ahhh, because media are so reactive now, but is that part of the point? And is it just gonna get worse and worse, so you can’t ignore people making statements, ‘cos they know it’s all, it’s going to cause outrage, it’s going to be reported.
TONY DOE: Y-y-y-yeaaahhh, it, it, it is a deliberately provocative act, and the idea is to get attention, and Mission Accomplished, isn’t it. You know, I mean, it draws attention to that fashion label. This is the, there was the story in the media today, I think, about a men’s accessories place, with rings, men’s hands on naked women—
JIM MORA: Oh yes, I saw, I saw the headline there.
TONY DOE: Yeah, a very similar sort of a thing, where the man’s hand with all these rings on it is on the back of this woman, um, he’s got clothes on, she hasn’t. People are saying it’s misogynist and various other things but the line of rings has sold out.
ANNAH STRETTON:[Guffaws sardonically] Huh.
JIM MORA: That’s the thing.
ANNAH STRETTON: Reacted to it, yeah.
TONY DOE: So, whatever happened, people wanted the rings, and the fact that all that attention was given to that advert drew people to that website and drew people to that product and they actually liked it when they saw it.
JIM MORA: Yeah, and Annah, you say quite reasonably I dunno why we’re discussing this, but presumably it may have the, y’know it’s supposed to educate people and shame them into silence and have billboards taken down and so on, but it may produce a kind of cacophony of constant rudeness, as people try and get edgier and edgier and edgier. That may well be the result.
TONY DOE:
ANNAH STRETTON: I dunno, we’ve got the billboard and we’ve got the wheelchair and they’re both the Jenners, aren’t they, with the—
JIM MORA: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah, um, I think a lot of it, they don’t NEED the publicity, so I don’t understand why they had to go into this space to get it, because there’s a lot of other ways that they could, um, yeah, I, I, I, I dunno, I just think that, y’know, people that are forced in to wheelchairs because of a disability, ummmm….
JIM MORA: Don’t appreciate seeing HER sitting in one.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah. She doesn’t need to DO this. I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it. And I don’t, obviously you can see that I don’t have a lot of time for the Jenners either, so—
TONY DOE: Ha ha!
JIM MORA: No I got that impression—-
ANNAH STRETTON: Heh heh.
JIM MORA: —-from your general tone.
TONY DOE: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Ah, heh heh.
As Annah Stretton continued her restrained snickering, the welling sounds of “Carmina Burana” signaled that, mercifully, it was time for them all to stop talking.
Straight after that public show of concern for the disabled, I sent the host the following email….
Dear Jim,
I find you and some of your panelists (like Chris Trotter and Lisa Scott) laughing at the plight of political dissidents to be far more offensive than anything Kylie Jenner has said or done.
New Zealand has reinforced its commitment to combating corruption by ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.
The Convention is a legally binding global agreement to address corruption in the private and public spheres.
“While New Zealand already has a strong reputation for having low levels of corruption, we cannot be complacent. We have broadly complied with the Convention for a number of years, but we needed to make a limited number of law changes before we could ratify it,” says Ms Adams.
The necessary changes were made through the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill, which amended 15 Acts and was recently passed by Parliament.
“The changes made by the Bill, along with our formal ratification of the Convention, mean New Zealand’s ability to combat corruption is now stronger than ever.
Benefits of ratifying the Convention include ensuring our domestic anti-corruption measures remain robust and meet international best practice.
“It’s also a clear demonstration that New Zealand values a fair and corruption-free international trading system.
This is important for maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a trustworthy trading partner with zero-tolerance for corruption.
“As a member of the Convention, New Zealand will be able to better contribute to global anti-corruption efforts by providing a legal basis for extradition and mutual legal assistance between other member countries when dealing with corruption-related crimes,” says Ms Adams.
New Zealand joins 177 other countries as a State Party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The Convention focuses on four key areas: prevention, criminalisation, international cooperation, and recovery of the proceeds of corruption.
The specific amendments made by the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill to enable ratification of the Convention include:
the creation of new corruption offences related to solicitation and acceptance of bribes by foreign public officials, and trading in influence over public officials
increased penalties for private sector
corruption
clarification that no bribes are tax deductible.
_________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
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We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...
The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Braae reviews a night spent on the Intercity overnight sleeper bus getting from Wellington to Auckland.The most important thing to understand about long haul bus travel is that it’s all about getting exactly ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jerry Zhou, Lecturer, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Does chewing gum stay inside you for years? – Olivia, aged 12, Australia. Great question, Olivia! ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Elphick, Adjunct Research Fellow, Law School, University of Western Australia In March last year, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, she drew attention to the female nominees in the room and left them with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peggy Kern, Associate professor, University of Melbourne The Portal follows six individuals who undergo a personal transformation from trauma and struggle to calmness, self-acceptance, and compassion towards others. These personal changes are intertwined with contemplations about the broader struggles facing humanity and ...
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
The Southern DHB has apologised and pledged to change practices after a report into a young woman’s complaint about treatment which included being stripped naked and left unattended in seclusion for 12 hours. Here she tells her story.I’d forgotten the Health and Disability Commission was about to publish its report. ...
In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says his party will pull its support for the new anti-terrorism legislation if the minister doesn't meet with them next week and start negotiating in good faith. ...
For the latest episode of On the Rag, notorious prude Alex Casey enlisted the help of sex toy expert and pleasure therapist Teddy Curle. It sounds a bit like ingredients for an avant-garde stir-fry recipe. Cauliflower. Kūmara. A jar of Vegemite. But what it actually is, sex toy expert Teddy Curle ...
It is deeply concerning that the state of our marine environment has not improved in the last three years. Resilient coasts and oceans are essential to New Zealanders' health and wealth, so urgent action is needed to address the decline. ...
Something’s crowning this Christmas, and it isn’t King Richard of Aldovia in his favourite tiara. Tara Ward looks at what Netflix’s new movie A Christmas Prince: A Royal Baby could mean for us all. Yesterday Netflix announced they’re about to give birth to the third instalment in the legendary series A Christmas ...
In a new initiative, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence is celebrating and recognising the careers of three Māori leaders and visionaries, who have a long history of bringing about major social change ...
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has welcomed the publication by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ of Our Marine Environment 2019 , the latest in the reports on the state of our environment. The report is available here . ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Brown, CEO of PredictHQ.This week we talk to Campbell Brown, the CEO ...
The Government has today released its discussion paper ‘ Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System ’ providing detail of what proposed law for Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne The polls were wrong in the last US and Australian federal elections. Hillary Clinton was favoured to win at a margin of 85% to Donald Trump’s 15%. ...
Today is World Ecolabel Day and to mark the occasion New Zealand’s premier ecolabel has released a study showing the powerful environmental effect of ecolabelled products. ...
Family First's continued fight against attempts by the government's Charities Registration Board to deregister them is set to continue in the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week (Tues & Wed 22-23 Oct). In a significant development, the Charity Law ...
The actions of New Zealanders on land are increasingly harming the ocean’s ability to sustain life. Alex Braae looks at a worrying new government paper on the marine environment.What’s all this then?A new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ has sounded alarming warning about state of ...
Farmers for Positive Change (F4PC) congratulates environmental, recreation and public health groups for coming to a united position on the Government’s freshwater reform and finds significant areas of agreement with the Healthy Water, Healthy Future joint ...
In time for Auckland Artweek, Eloise Callister-Baker opens the door on a cluster of small Auckland art spaces, once off the beaten track and ephemeral, now finding cunning new ways to adapt and survive in the CBD property market. Auckland’s terrific documentor of art openings, Sait Akkirman of artdiary.co.nz, provides ...
Right to Life asks, why the Special Abortion Legislation Bill Committee is continuing to discriminate by refusing to hear the 2,740 submitters who have requested the right to make a ten minute oral submission on the highly contentious abortion Bill conceived ...
Winston Peters is calling on an old mate to give evidence in his landmark court case against government agencies over a leak of his personal superannuation details. ...
Government ministers are exulting over how the NZ economy is performing— and their own work in making it stronger. David Clark, standing in for Grant Robertson in Parliament on Tuesday, rejoiced at how solid the “underlying fundamentals of the NZ economy are”. He said the government accounts for the June ...
A campaign to ban the Forced Swim Test in New Zealand is in line with public opinion, according to a new survey commissioned by the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society (NZAVS) and SAFE. ...
Environment, health, recreation, and water infrastructure groups have come together to support four essential policies to save fresh water in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Public Health Association, Forest & Bird, Fish & Game New Zealand, Environmental ...
"So many of our children are being violently harmed. Their innocence stolen and their bodies used for the sexual gratification and financial gain of those involved in the dark world of paedophillia. These innocent children are voiceless; nobody ...
There must be consternation within the upper ranks of the Labour Party at the performance of some of the Ministers in the coalition government. Every time the government looks like making some positive progress, one or other of these errant Ministers can be ...
Responding to Massey University’s decision to cancel the upcoming ‘Feminism 2020’ event, Free Speech Coalition member Melissa Derby (who had been scheduled to speak at the event) says: ...
New Zealand First's youth wing is at odds with leader Winston Peters over pill-testing at festivals and is working to overturn the party's position. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Byron, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Wollongong I am in year 11 and I like to listen to music when I am studying, but my dad says that my brain is spending only half of its time studying and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith University Good planning needs integrity, and public participation should play a role in that. But a row over a high-rise development proposed for suburban Brisbane shows what happens when the public feels left out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Mathmann, Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Queensland University of Technology When you wander down most supermarket aisles are you befuddled by too much choice? Do you feel overwhelmed when comparing new phone deals, insurance offers, energy provider plans? There’s a lot of research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland In a speech in Albury last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told his audience that he was praying for rain in drought-affected areas. “I pray for that ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Prefab housing factory opened amid huge need, worrying new measles developments, and public shows common sense on drug testing.A new factory has been opened to produce building materials, which if scaled up could have a significant impact on construction time ...
The Police Association says the Police Minister will be breaking his promise if he doesn't include staff turnover in the government's police staffing target. ...
Open mike 03/12/2015 
Open mike is your post.
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
Today's IPCA report of police criminality: a police officer unalwfully tasered a fleeing suspect who posed no threat to anyone:The police watchdog has found an officer unlawfully tasered an Auckland man who broke his ankle jumping off a balcony to escape arrest. [...] To avoid arrest, the man jumped over ...18 hours ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...19 hours ago
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...20 hours ago
John MacCormick Over the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...21 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...2 days ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...3 days ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...3 days ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...3 days ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...6 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...2 days ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...3 days ago
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...14 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...44 mins ago
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...2 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling NZ books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. ...2 hours ago
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...2 hours ago
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...2 hours ago
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...2 hours ago
Plans for Facebook’s proposed “stablecoin”, Libra, appear to be unraveling as awareness about its adverse effects grows. ...2 hours ago
Explosives were used to blast a millions-of-years-old rock overhang in a national park. ...2 hours ago
Medical issues, party leaks and a surprise resignation have taken their toll - but Winston Peters argues his party is as strong as ever. ...2 hours ago
What's different about what Donald Trump did this time to finally snap Democrats into action and launch an impeachment inquiry? ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...8 hours ago
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11554715
What a joke ! No “deliberate” misuse. What it really means – ‘Misuse then ? Well, if you must…..but do remember, this was not my finest hour……’
“In October, she said Mr Key had a “cavalier” approach to the OIA and had shown a “disregard for the law”. Her comments were in relation to Mr Key’s admission that his office sometimes waited 20 days to release information if it was in its political interests. Asked about her comments today, she said they were “not her finest hour.”
That’s a shame. The ‘finest hour’ may come along in the course of the next sinecure.
I am fully expectant that Peter Boshier will be no ones’ poodle.
Personal responsibility on display again: It’s all the media’s fault.
I see the word “deliberate” has changed its meaning …
Another whitewash on the way. And if Departments don’t have the resources to deal with OIA requests, who is it that funds the departments to resource themselves?
Morning Report this morning – 17 and 18 year olds locked down in their cells for 23 out of 24 hours at Serco Mt Eden – Minister of Corrections Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga “declined to comment”.
What the hell is going on ? Are Corrections/Serco actually the Minister of Corrections here ? Peseta Sam the mute titular ?
Oh I get it…….”Responsibility Responsibility Responsibility !”…….National Party style.
Wtf have the opoosition been on this as Sam is a very weak puppett in this cabal.
@ North (2) neither the minister, nor Corrections will comment on this matter! Not good enough!
Another big fail for NatzKEY!
Obama admits Turkey is responsible for oil, weapons, and extremist smuggling through its borders to IS controlled areas.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/74678756/Russia-says-it-has-proof-Turkey-involved-in-Islamic-State-oil-trade
That’s old news,
you need to read more foreign media, more often.
For some reason most “international” stuff & herald stories are about 2-3+ days behind the rest of the world.
A bit like Farrar then.
Everytime I hear or read his name I think of the penguin from batman..
Here’s a data point:
He said few residents feared coalition airstrikes, although former residents of the city who have fled across the border to Turkey told the Guardian last week of civilian casualties suffered even under carefully targeted bombardment.
While children and elderly people are often startled and disturbed by the sounds of the explosions, activists say the airstrikes tend not to hit civilian areas. Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes as they tend to target civilian neighbourhoods.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/02/airstrikes-routine-people-raqqa-syria-says-activist?CMP=edit_2221
Why on erath would he say that if it wasn’t true? You can check out the journo group ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourselves if you care to smear them, but good luck saying they are ‘fans’ of ISIS or in anyway supporters of them. Video of Russian helicopters dropping dumb bombs on urban areas are also not hard to find, though RT tend to prefer the snazzy pics of jest taking off and cruise missiles. The clusters of 4 heavy bombs smashing into a neighbourhood? not so much airtime on RT for some reason.
Whenever you post on the issue it’s jest taking off.
Good one. I’ve always cared more about logic than typos myself, but takes all sorts eh.
There appears to be a lot of opinion in that article, PB.
“Why on erath (earth) would he say that if it wasn’t true?”
Really? I’m gobsmacked that you would even think that.
I have a healthy distrust of the media, mainly because I’ve been working in it for the last 25+ years. (obviously I’m not a journo, my grammer sucks)
Always ask, why am I being told this and who benefits from the outcome.
Good. Me too.
So come on, speculate away, what are your answers to your sceptical questions about that piece?
Or do you mean question in the sense of just throwing up your hands and saying ‘oh noes I can’t know anything’.
Seriously, that group’s work can be found online, really easily, you can make judgements, it’s a data point.
Fill your boots, tell me your reckons.
Russia is going to stay in Syria, Assad will remain in power, Iranian influence in the Middle East will increase, and US/NATO complicity with ISIS and other extremist groups will become increasingly obvious.
Oh great, It’s Captain Know Nothing back with off-topic reckons for the thread.
How did you get on finding an example of a helicopter being shot down by a TOW?
And weren’t you saying just the other day that Putin agrees with you that Assad should go? Yep, you were, but you were just making shit up, coz it’s what you do.
Why would he say what?
Why would he say that “few residents feared coalition airstrikes”? Or why would he say “Most, however, fear Russian airstrikes…”?
My impression is that nothing quite gels. I mean he also says..
“Britain has a powerful intelligence service and knows where to strike and when, not like the coalition.” (Wide-eyed astonishment at that one from over here)
Who is he?
From the same article Tim Ramadan, the pseudonym of an activist and journalist working clandestinely in the city
No agenda and no line to spin then and…well, what is an activist in the context of a multi faceted war situation?
edit: one fairly reasonable reason for him spinning (if he is) would be if he’s aligned with any of the so-called moderate opposition targeted by Russia but not by ‘the coalition’, yes?
Like I said, you can check out ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ for yourself to find out.
Do I wish all the tv stations and wire services were fully operating in IS controlled territory?
Yes.
Is that a resonable expectation?
No.
Shall we discount everything to zero?
If you want, I’ll get the data points I can and make the best of them.
Sorry. I see you replied before my edit.
He doesn’t have to be a supporter of the daesh to be saying those things.
No he wouldn’t.
And yes, like much of rebel held Syria they hate Assad, and ISIS.
Which doesn’t make what they are saying ‘not true’, right?
But given what the coalition are doing and demanding, and what the Russians are doing and demanding, what motivation would they have to say what he said.
Why say the new strikes will be pointless in effect, and that the Russian strikes are hitting civilians more often? They want ISIS gone, they really hate ISIS. They are literally risking death doing what they are doing, these activists in Raqqa, some of them have been killed by ISIS.
So if it’s not true that the Russian attacks are more feared by the population than the wetsern attacks why say it?
Does it square with other evidence, like footage of attacks?
I’m not being rhetorical here.
Actual questions.
I’m not saying that certain claims are either true or not true. And I don’t have any reasonably informed opinion that could be applied to your questions.
Maybe the ‘Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently’ site you mention is a reasonable conduit for information – I dunno. What I mean by that is that I haven’t given it more than a cursory glance atm.
“My impression is that nothing quite gels.”
My thoughts exactly. With so much misinformation and political points scoring going on, it’s hard to work out what’s actually going on..
But then, that’s the whole idea.
+1
Russia has only one objective in Syria, the preservation of Tartus as it’s only western hemisphere naval base outside of the Crimea. Hey wait a minute, I’m seeing a connection here between russian adventures in the Ukraine and in Syria………
The preservation of their only open water naval base in Europe/Middle East. is their primary strategic goal, everything else, including war crimes and assad’s survival is secondary to this.
Stories in the press that Turkey are delaying Russian traffic through the Bosphorus for “administrative” reasons is an unwelcome power flex by the turks…..
The Dardanelles are suddenly a global focus point again.
Why on earth would he say that if it wasn’t true?
Because he is directly responsible for the death of many hundreds of thousands of people and has no incentive to tell the truth
We live in an age where any media production, be it written word, audio or visual can be ‘created’, and should by default be treated as suspicious, fake or lies
IRONY ALERT: Paul “Kill Them All” Henry gets all serious and
denounces “the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
Paul Henry, TV3, Thursday 3 December 2015, 7:10 a.m.
hypocrite n. 1. a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs; 2. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
It appears that the malignant spirit of “Sir” Paul Holmes descended on the North Shore Events Centre last night….
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/30256384/perth-wildcat-nate-jawai-allegedly-abused-in-defeat-to-new-zealand/
In a supreme act of projection this morning, Paul “Kill Them All” Henry glared at the camera with his special “serious” expression and intoned: “It’s just the mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work.”
That’s an odd thing to say for someone who just two months ago was ranting about the “political correctness” gone mad of giving a ferry a Māori name…
More mindless rantings of one very nasty piece of work….
anyone see this? My understand of the flag wastage was that anyone could either rank as per preference, or rank as little as one.
However here they say….rank all or ‘it won’t count’
Are they now giving out invalid/false information?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/can-john-key-find-out-how-i-voted-in-the-flag-referendum
quote:
If there is one flag you hate a lot, give that a five then rank the rest backwards, but make sure you do all the way to one, or again it won’t count.
From the letter accompanying the voting paper: Instructions: A: Rank the flag designs in the order that you prefer them. You can rank as few or an many as you wish, from 1 to 5. Write 1 in the box under the flag you prefer most. Write 2 in the box under your next preferred flag, if you have one, and so on. Do not write the same number more than once.
So we can safely assume than that TVNZ has just misled the public with the statement that I posted above?
It does look like that. Surely we haven’t descended so low that the voting instructions themselves are intended to mislead.
No, what they are saying (I think) is that if you want to put your most hated flag ranked last, start with making it #5, but you then have to vote for #1, #2, #3, #4 as well or your vote will be invalid. Another example would be if you wrote #2 and #3 and nothing else, that would be invalid too. Presumably.
It’s still completely stupid advice from Fair Go given that we still don’t do this kind of voting well, but I think it reflects how fucked up the whole thing is when our state broadcaster feels the need to tell people how to vote based on the most hated design.
Thanks Weka – and I agree. It says something about the whole process/project if people need to be told how to express their hatred of designs in a way that does not invalidate their vote.
Then there’s this,
That’s alright then, because we really trust this government and its computer data competency.
Of course we trust Dear Leaders Government, after all he is the most trusted Dear Leader, most accomplished and such.
Every voting paper has a secret number on it. If the same name is crossed off the roll more than once the number on the voting paper is opened so that the person can be checked/interviewed to see if he has voted twice. What he voted is immaterial. Could a dishonest person find out what you voted? Possible but you have to trust the integrity of staff. Works OK so far.
I see no reason why the Electoral Commission cannot be trusted to operate the system honestly and fairly. It would be a very risky proposition for the government of the day to try and interfere with a democratically run voting system such as ours. Voters of all stripes would reject them outright.
How about WINZ? The Education department? Do we have a BLiP list of all the government departments that have mangled such tech?
LOL
I’ve been saying on this board for years that the government can track how people vote and now you’re surprised to find that they can?
as for this bit:
The name wouldn’t be in the QR code itself but the QR code will relate back to the name in the database.
Actually, the problem is trusting the competency of the private firm that wrote the software.
No, I’m not surprised at that (if it’s happening). I’m surprised at Fair Go saying ‘let’s trust the government’.
The Crosby-Textor playbook is so predictable.
Cameron and Key use practically interchangeable slurs when cornered by their opponents. It should remove any doubt as to whether Cameron or Key are cold, calculating sociopaths or a loudmouthed bully boys, because they are obviously both.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/01/cameron-accuses-corbyn-of-being-terrorist-sympathiser
As do the Lib/Nats in Australia. Its why we have centre-left referred to as “hard Left” whilst they call themselves “centre Right” – it creeps into the MSM in NZ, Aus and GB within a very short time. Look at the how Tony Abbot’s “Death Cult” description of ISIS is now part of their vocab.
I’ve been waiting to hear JFK start talking about “the New Zealand People”. It started in the US and is common in Australia and GB. Another little gem is “the truth is ……… this or that”.
It’s what the hard Right CT do best, and they have their little disciples like Matty Hooten and Paul Henry doing their best to propagate the spin – consciously or not (going forward).
It’s not unlike those in the banking sector – you know – those expert economists.
The sharemarket always goes up or down “on the back of …… “.
(At this point in time) BEWARE THE BULLSHIT! (going forward)
My thoughts too, same style/tactics, dead cat slapped on the table. Pathetic.
This government sure seems to be getting a reputation for enabling “modern” slavery. I wish the labour party would make more of a fuss instead of letting NZFirst turn it into an anti-immigration issue. After all it is the LABOUR party. I wonder if the police are much involved in looking into this sort of stuff. Do they have a transnational crime expert there and if so what issues is he focusing on instead… Cocaine? Whipping up fear in the Asia-Pacific over ISIS?
https://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/peters-immigrant-healthcare-bill-defeated-2015120219
I hate to say it (I mean its Winston) but it sounds like a reasonable idea and I’m not even that fussed about the rebate for the pensioners
Yet another disgraceful, extreme ten minutes from Dame Ann Leslie.
Why is this ghastly old trout accorded the status of “U.K. correspondent”?
RNZ National, Thursday 3 September 2015, 9:50 a.m.
KATHRYN RYAN: Our U.K. correspondent is Dame Ann Leslie and she is in London. Good morning!
DAME ANN LESLIE: Good morning!
KATHRYN RYAN: Crazy old world it is. Your parliament is having an intense debate tonight on whether to commit to bombing Daesh in Syria.
DAME ANN LESLIE: It’s absolutely unbelievable that this debate is taking one whole day. As is well known, Raqaa is the nerve centre of the bloody attacks on Paris. But our planes are obliged by an earlier decision of our parliament to avoid flying over Syrian air space. Now, you may detect a slight political bias in what I say next, but Labour with its new, rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn…. [she embarks on a rambling denunciation]… I think Cameron WILL win, but it will be nail-biting. I’ve lived long enough to know how unpredictable war is. There are some things we have to deal with, for example Turkey, which has been slightly pro-ISIL. They used to line their tanks up on the border, watching various factions fighting. Um, the thing is really, one of the main problems is Turkey, because they are aligned with Daesh, allowing Daesh’s oil across the border, which has been illegally acquired, to sell on the secret market. Then of course there is the other issue, which is sectarian basically, between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Turkey is making a mess of things, frankly.
KATHRYN RYAN: I’m looking at a comment by William Hague, saying don’t rule out British boots on the ground.
DAME ANN LESLIE: [wearily] Ohhh!
KATHRYN RYAN: Now people are talking about boots on the ground again.
DAME ANN LESLIE: Everybody agrees that this will be a long drawn out conflict. Destroying Daesh won’t work unless there are boots on the ground. The question is WHOSE boots?… I’ve worked a lot in the Middle East and it really is the MOST APPALLING MESS…
KATHRYN RYAN: All right. The question is: does the UK want to be ANYWHERE near it?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Well the thing is, we have been very stupid in the West. We had the idea that if we went into these Godforsaken countries we would be greeted with flowers from the people we had liberated. ….Then you get the appalling business of sectarianism. The Sunnis don’t want the SHIAS involved, and the Shias, especially Iran, don’t want the Sunnis involved…. I feel very depressed by the whole thing.
KATHRYN RYAN: Let’s finish with a festive note. Can festive fairy lights wreck the British Christmas?
DAME ANN LESLIE: Ofcom has said that fairy lights will wreck our traditional family Christmas, because they interfere with wi-fi. ….
Mercifully, the time pips start sounding….
KATHRYN RYAN: [with evident relief] Oh dear! Ten o’clock!
More of Dame Ann Leslie’s wit and wisdom….
I sent the host of Nine to Noon the following email….
Dear Kathryn,
You allowed your U.K. correspondent Dame Ann Leslie to denounce Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “rather muddled, faintly loopy, hard left”. That was an extreme and biased comment by any measure, yet you chose not to challenge it, or even to politely ask her to explain why she had used such demeaning language.
Are you not allowed to challenge anything she says? Are you obliged to simply go along with it?
Yours in concern at the standards of public broadcasting,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
+100… Dame Ann Leslie is such an obvious right wing Tory toff she is entertaining…she shouldnt be taken seriously…however she shouldnt be allowed blather along unchallenged ….surely Ryan can engage more with her and challenge her monologue occasionally ?
…and why cant we have Ken Livingstone on as a commentator to give the other side?…here he is on Sophie and Co
‘West discredited itself with invasions, able to stop nothing now – ex-mayor of London’
https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/323903-jihadists-attack-crime-control/
“After Islamic State strikes in the heart of Europe, nations are ramping up their security. Now, the debate rages about whether being secure or being free is the most important. And when jihadists attack, anti-Islamic sentiment gains momentum, with hate crimes threatening to spike out of control. How do you keep heads calm? Is bulk data collection, after all, needed for peace and stability? We pose these questions to a veteran British politician, former mayor of London – Ken Livingstone is on Sophie&Co today.”
She grew up in “the Punjab” dontcha know. She’s ‘very well connected’.
Whilst I admire Kathryn Ryan for much of what she does – she does like to maintain a ‘balanced portfolio’ and maintain an image of fairness and balance.
Challenging bullshit is just not the done thing dontcha know – even amongst those that consider themselves amongst the Kiwi-well-connected-elite (or the Elite Cult).
How else do you explain “The Panel’? (going forward)
Oh ….. btw, I notice The Dame hasn’t been on Dateline London for a very long, long time – perhaps Gav’s not been too kind to her, or his ‘bit of fluff’ doesn’t particularly like her condescension
Mora’s ‘The Panel’ is ghastly…I try never to listen to it!..In fact I find Dame Leslie more congenial ( dare I say it…I find her entertaining like a poncy aunty and I like the way she speaks)
Did you get a reply to your email Morrissey?
No. She seems impervious to criticism.
Oh Morissey Darling! What a truly truly monstrous thing to say. Really! That’s horrid – really it is!
Why the Dame has a wealth of life’s experience, and Kathryn has launched a thousand carreers (including a few talking head ‘panelists’ we now hold so very very dear).
How dare you challenge them!
It really is such bad form!
/sarc (as if)
Pharmac have denied terminally ill people with melanoma a promising drug which has benefitted a third to two thirds of people with incurable melanoma. The cost is about $300,000 per person. Australia and the UK fund the drug but not stingy NZ. The cost of the drug would cost the government 30 million per year.
What upsets me the most is that the rich can afford to purchase the drug and a savvy poor person would have to fund raise, (which would require abundant energy).
It must be awful being an oncologist in NZ because of being limited when it comes to prescribing life saving drugs which Pharmac will not fund.
Pharmac, like most other government organisations, could do with a significant funding boost and no political interference (like the Herceptin campaign pledge).
It’s akin to manslaughter, allowing people to die, when they could be helped. Only the super wealthy can afford this drug. You wouldn’t even need to poor to be left to die, if you needed this drug.
There was a young man, just a teenager, with melanoma on telly the other night at yet another fundraiser for this particular drug, Keytruda I think it’s called. He said he has to raise $30K every 3 months. He has a givealittle page and he was at a fundraiser event when he being filmed.
His family and himself work full time on the fundraising. How frightening to be in his shoes, having your life depend on the kindness of strangers, and never knowing if there will be enough money. How do people fare who don’t have a supportive family and don’t have the strength to work out how to get absurd amounts of money out of thin air?
This drug is fully funded in Australia.
Keytruda, is that when the National government breaks in and steals anything it can lay its hands on that’s worth something?
sorry, couldn’t resist.
I know! What a name! Your thoughts were my thoughts when I first heard of it. The drug goes by another name but I can’t remember what it is.
The other name is Pembrolizumab. The bro bit might be the generous people in NZ who donate to try and save a life e.g. the young 22 year old who has a give a little page.
Bryan Gould on the money as always. Writing about The UK, but equally applicable here.
http://www.bryangould.com/what-really-matters/
“There is a rapidly emerging consensus that – as we discovered 80 years ago but then forgot – austerity is the wrong response to recession. We are learning that lesson all over again. Even in terms of its own stated objectives, austerity has failed; the supposedly central priority of eliminating the government’s deficit remains a long way from being achieved, while the deficit that really matters – the country’s continuing failure to pay its way – remains unattended to and is getting worse.
In the meantime, poverty and inequality increase, housing is increasingly unaffordable, net investment is virtually zero, the prospect of a revival in manufacturing is non-existent, and an unsustainable consumer boom fuelled by asset inflation underpins our rake’s progress to decline.?
Just on 1,000,000 people have posted their flag ballot papers up till 2 December. About the same as the 2013 referendum at the same number of days.
Have to say, I was pretty convinced I was going to spoil my voting paper, but when it comes down to it, I really can’t be bothered even sending the thing in. And I’m a committe voter.
interesting read on rising sea levels.
maybe someone who runs a country or a city with a lot of habitat on coastal areas wants to have a look at it.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/02/world/The-Marshall-Islands-Are-Disappearing.html?_r=1
The clearest explanation of the evil of corporate tyranny and the death of democracy I’ve heard so far:
Democracy Sold Out To Greed
The video helps me to bring home that “Western democracy” is a sham, a total lie.
Every Western government and Washington’s Asian vassal states are totally under the control of private corporations and private interest groups. The corporations govern, and they are in the process of institutionalizing their governance with the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic Partnerships. The purpose of these “partnerships” is to make global corporations higher than the laws of the “sovereign” countries in which they do business.
Anything, whether law, rule, regulation, or moral principle that interferes with corporate profits is outlawed as “a resraint on trade.”
Western civilization is over and done with. Nothing remains except historical achievements that are no longer understood or appreciated.
(http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/12/01/democracy-sold-out-to-greed/)
+100 Johnm…a MUST WATCH!
..where is the NZ Labour Party on opposing this….neolib corporate fascist attempt at takeover of New Zealand democracy and sovereignty?…scarcely a peep!
…time for a new Labour Mana Party
Comrade Chooky did you see my response and question to you on yesterdays open mike re a new party?
Hi Comrade Rosie….yes I did see it and I didnt answer because Savenz answered for me…on the reasons why there needs to be a new Labour Mana Party
There are many reasons why the last Election was lost
1.)…Cunliffe was relentlessly attacked by the msm…and not supported by the Labour Party caucus even although he was the grassroots Labour vote….and it would seem that there has been a concerted campaign against him and his supporters on the Left of the Labour Party for some time
( here is what i asked on the Daily Blog)
“Is the ABC faction actually a fifth column?
…I mean looked at it historically, it has been going on at least as long as Shearer
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8348590/Dalziel-dropped-from-Labours-top-20
Has the Labour Party been kidnapped?”
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/30/puppet-on-a-string-has-andrew-little-become-the-plaything-of-labours-dominant-factions/#sthash.jayVFy3W.dpuf )
2.) In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…gifting it to Jonkey nactional…Mana was working for the poorest of the poor in New Zealand ….this was unforgivable by the Labour party ….and it does not deserve to be called Labour
( …and it turns out that Lusk was apparently bribing Maori not to vote for Hone Harawira !….Nash has had dealings with Lusk
‘Dirty Politics players back in the frame’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/201779410/dirty-politics-players-back-in-the-frame
…”Simon Lusk also claimed on Story he had been instrumental in unseating Mana Party co-leader Hone Harawira in the last election. Unnamed “businessmen” had paid thousands for that, he said. And in conversation with his co-host last Monday, Duncan Garner said money had been paid to get Maori electors to vote in Te Tai Tokerau.
Was political operative Simon Lusk really paying people on behalf of clients to influence an election? Disappointingly, no more was said about this claim.The following day, Duncan Garner posted a statement from Simon Lusk on the websites of TV3’s Story and Radio Live. In it, Simon Lusk said:
Iwi now have extensive databases of members who they can easily mobilise. Assembling a team of 50 or 100 iwi members to get out the vote is straightforward, legal and effective if it is possible to raise some koha.
He added that “if you’re not paying for votes or offering anything in exchange for a vote, or treating,” it is not against the law. But that statement didn’t answer key questions: How much was paid? By whom? And for what purpose? …
…”Duncan Garner also revealed supporters of Labour’s Napier MP Stewart Nash paid Simon Lusk to canvas the option of a new political party…)
Now we have Little’s Labour demoting and shunning Cunliffe and Mahuta yet again….even although Mahuta brought in the Maori seats for Labour and Cunliffe was the Labour grassroots choice for leader ( Little cant even win his own seat, nor ccan Robertson and Adern)
Quite apart from all this, Labour has shown NO leadership in opposing the TPP
So yes I would support another “Labour” Mana Party which is genuinely Labour ( this Labour Party does not deserve the brand name “Labour”…It deserves to be taken off them)
“In a stunning move Labour turned against Hone Harawira in the TTT electorate and effectively excluded Left party Mana winning four seats and a Left coalition winning that election…”
Do you really believe this nonsense Chooky? I feel your heart is in the right place but this is nonsense. I like Hone Harawira very much and believe he is a good person, but he made a very stupid mistake signing up with Kim Dotcom.
He lost a lot of credibility with Māori in Northland because they felt he had sold out – unlike you I actually know many Northland Māori. He lost control of his party. He begged Dotcom not to have the “Moment of Truth” just before the election because Hone is politically astute enough to know that is would be distorted by the media and would lose the left votes, as it inevitably did. I was sitting very close to Hone that night and his unhappiness was obvious.
Mana actually deserved that seat.
all Dotcoms fault then?…well Jonkey would certainly agree with you!…but it is a bit simplistic…and Dotcom was up against the corporates too …so whose side are you on?…certainly not Dotcom’s ( is this little Labour policy as well?)
…and I note you have carefully avoided any of the other points
I have been too busy with work to look at the Standard again until now – if I had I would have corrected my last line to “Davis deserved that seat.”
The reason I didn’t deal with your other “points” was that they were too ludicrous to bother with. If you really believe that Lusk had anything to do with Davis winning then you really are very foolish. You are actually doing exactly what Lusk et al want you to do – whether deliberately or through ignorance I have no idea.
If you actually read what I said a bit more carefully you would understand that I am not blaming Dotcom, I am saying when Mana signed up with Dotcom they not only lost a lot of credibility with many of their supporters, but Hone lost control of the party he had co-founded. Sue Bradford could see what would happen but Hone couldn’t.
I have been very impressed with Davis this year – why not look at what people do rather than indulge in ill-informed conspiracy theories.
National HQ cheered the most loudly when Davis beat Harawira.
Hi Chooky. Thanks for the thoughts. Have run out of time to respond in any meaningful way.
Except to say I totally get what you are saying about treatment of Mahuta and DC. I agree. I’m with you on that. I also saw the programme about Simon Lusk, his bribing of Maori voters of TTT and his connection with Nash. But, I’d say ditto to what Karen is saying below. It’s a long bow to draw a connection between Lusk and Kelvin Davis in TTT. Lusk just hated Hone. Fool that Lusk is.
Also, I still don’t think a new party will solve anything, help the left or the people that need left representation.
@ Rosie …i am not saying there is a connection between Davis and Lusk…where did I say that? ( reframing of the issues?)
I am saying Davis and Labour should NOT have stood against Hone Harawira and Mana Party …which were for the poorest of the poor
I am saying it looks as if Lusk paid Maori not to vote for Harawira
I am saying it looks as if there is a connection between Labour’s Nash and Lusk…on a different issue
( It would be very interesting to know exactly what other connections /dealings Lusk has had with New Zealand politicians…and Labour politicians…such connections would be very compromising indeed, I would imagine)
As regards a new Labour Mana Party…well it depends on how much you can stomach from the party which calls itself ‘Labour’ …and it depends on how many people feel there is a need for a new Labour Left (Mana)Party
…certainly there does seem some support for it given the treatment of Cunliffe ( the membership choice) and Mahuta (and the Maori seats)…and Harawira (and Mana)….and the Labour Party leadership non action on TPP
You want to support the status quo…others dont
I don’t want to support any status quo Chooky. I’m feeling very uncomfortable /conflicted about being in Labour now. Check out my comments on the “Labour Mayor for Wellington” post if you want to see why I will not be voting for Labour Mayoral candidate Justin Lester.
Theres a shit load of stuff that may or may not happen in the next two years. We might yet be surprised. Holy moly, if David Cunliffe, in some weird twist of alternate reality become leader of the Greens then I’d party vote Green.
I am however, strongly opposed to voting for Labour ticket Justin Lester as Mayor of Wellington.
+100 Rosie…yes if he were to become leader of the Greens…I too would vote Green
Cunliffe was born Labour and will die Labour.
He would never ever join another party.
While some Green values overlap or are complimentary to those of Labour the two parties are different.
No no no. Cunliffe is not leaving Labour. All of us should remain and make our best possible contributions to ensuring its values are protected and applied to real lives.
well that is the problem with the Labour Party…”was born Labour and will die Labour”…even when Labour is no longer Labour and turns fascist
(John Pilger has some trenchant things to say about the British Labour Party
https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/323420-paris-isis-daesh-uk/ )
In many ways David Cunliffe is a better fit for the Greens….not least of all because the Greens are to the Left of Labour
( except for Greens idiotic championing of bloody Red Peak corporate flag which i blame on try hard Shaw and that other grinning baby face muggins Gareth Hughes..and a few others who i wont insult)
🙄
+1
Must listen.
Just checked the ‘TransTasman’ so called ratings of Politicians.
What a laugh! Act’s noname on top rated highest. Nats good… Labour bad.
Dyson one of the hardest working MPs standing up for her constituents in Redcliffs even though they didn’t support her locally in the elections rated about lowest with the same rating as Nuk Nobody whom she thrashed and has nothing to say about Parata’s attack on the people of his pretend electorate of Port Hills.
Still we can’t expect any real information from a $500+ a year right wing rag started by national MP Hugh Templeton/s brother and bought out by another true blue right winger.
Right up Tracey Watkins alley this nonsense.
Old news I know but really really glad that the bitter and graceless right-wing stooge Sean Plunkett has been given his marching orders.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/74697011/mark-sainsbury-replaces-sean-plunket-at-radio-live
Good luck to Mark Sainsbury – at least he has a soul.
+100 Muttonbird …Plunkett did his best to roll David Cunlifffe
They need a differentiator from the rabid rightwing shock jocks and sainsbury has good recognition to boot. Still a race to the bottom though.
I listened to Mark Sainsbury a few times until his panel with the so-called views from the left and right consisted of 2 rightwing commentators. Happened a few times so turned off after that.
Tories have gone ECan on the SDHB:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/365644/commissioner-stay-sdhb
I’m not surprised; as this slow motion disaster of an underfunded public health system down south has been a long time disintegrating. Also, it was only yesterday (a year to the day before the commissioner’s term was supposed to expire) that:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/365445/criticism-over-city-hospital-role
Predictable, appoint your cronies and control the message.
What’s up with Stuff.co’s infuriating new recommended stories drop down menu? Hope they get enough feedback to get rid of it asap or give us a way to disable it permanently.
‘
I’ll just leave these here . . .
http://adblock-pro.en.softonic.com/
https://www.ghostery.com/
. . . there’s a bit of tweaking required for New Zealand specific sites and for when new “features” are imposed. The new drop down is to encourage clicks on what is euphemistically called “partner content” but, really, is advertising.
Cheers BLiP will check out.
Drop down menu has disappeared today. Maybe too many complaints.
The U.N. voted to partition Palestine 68 years ago, in
an unfair plan made even worse by Israel’s ethnic cleansing
Palestinians were 2/3rds of the population but offered 43% of land. Then, Israel ethnically cleansed it & took more
by BEN NORTON, Salon, Tuesday Dec. 1, 2015
68 years ago yesterday, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine, with General Assembly Resolution 181.
http://media.salon.com/2015/11/nyt-partition-plan.png
The front page of the November 29, 1947 edition of the New York Times read “[General] Assembly Votes Palestine Partition; Margin Is 33 to 13; Arabs Walk Out; Aranha Hails Work as Session Ends.”
Why were the Arabs angry? Because, for the indigenous Palestinians, the deal was a thoroughly bad one. Palestinians comprised approximately two-thirds of the population, yet were offered just 43 percent of their land in the deal.
“Aranha” refers to Osvaldo Aranha, a Brazilian diplomat. As president of the U.N. General Assembly, Aranha lobbied strongly on behalf of the Zionist movement (a settler colonialist Jewish nationalist political movement that called for the creation of the state of Israel). He delayed the vote on resolution 181 by two days in order to give the U.S. and other pro-Israel countries more time to pressure U.N. member states to vote for the plan. Scholar Fred Khouri writes that, in these two days:
“The United States and Zionists led the lobbying efforts of the pro-partition forces. The delegates, as well as the home governments, of Haiti, Liberia, Ethiopia, China, the Philippines, and Greece were swamped with telegrams, telephone calls, letters, and visitations from many sources, including the White House, congressmen, business corporations, and other fields of endeavor. As a result of these tremendous official and nonofficial pressures, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines finally agreed to vote for partition.”
These last-minute changes ensured that resolution 181 would have the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass.
The following is the U.N.’s map of the proposed partition. The blue areas comprising roughly 57 percent of the land were to be allotted to Jews; orange areas were to be allotted to Palestinians. Jerusalem was to be left under the governance of the international community, because of its historical and religious importance for numerous religions and cultures.
http://media.salon.com/2015/11/partition-plan-un-map-small.jpg
The Partition Plan was never implemented, however. The very next day after it was voted on, the 1947-1948 war broke out.
In this war, Zionist militias systematically ethnically cleansed large portions of historic Palestine, sacking hundreds of Palestinian villages and expelling more than 750,000 people — around two-thirds of the indigenous Arab population. Prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappé notes that, in Israel’s Plan Dalet (also known simply as Plan D), “veteran Zionist leaders” created “a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” They dispatched military orders in March 1948, Pappé explains:
“The orders came with a detailed description of the methods to be employed to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; laying siege to and bombarding villages and population centres; setting fire to homes, properties and goods; expulsion; demolition; and, finally, planting mines among the rubble to prevent any of the expelled inhabitants from returning.”
Plan D “spelled it out clearly and unambiguously: the Palestinians had to go,” writes Pappé. …..
Read more….
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/30/u_n_voted_to_partition_palestine_68_years_ago_in_an_unfair_plan_made_even_worse_by_israels_ethnic_cleansing/
https://syria360.wordpress.com/globalist-agenda/
Nothing happens in a vacuum
+100 Morrissey…thanks for reminding us…crimes against the Palestinians and crimes against humanity
Denouncing Kylie Jenner took up nearly five minutes on The Panel today;
But not even one second of indignation about today’s decision to bomb Syria.
RNZ National, Thursday 3 December 2015, 4:56 p.m.
Jim Mora, Tony Doe, Annah Stretton, Julie Moffett
hypocrisy n. 1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess. 2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude. 3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
JIM MORA: It is International Disabilities Day, which is a terrible coincidence, given the shootings in San Bernardino. And, ahhh, that has made what Kylie Jenner did, ahhh, a topic of discussion, much discussion on the internet. So Kylie Jenner from the Kardashian clan has angered disabled people by posing in a gold wheelchair for a magazine cover. And she’s got some kind of bleak, she’s aiming for a bleak sort of futuristic look, isn’t she, with her—she looks like a robot, she’s trying to look like a—
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah she does, yeah, yeah.
JIM MORA: And the quote going around the world, seeming to come from her but not actually, she didn’t say this, people are assuming she did, is: “Wow! Being in a wheelchair is so fun and fashionable!” So that is the, that is the quote being aired in, ahh, all the reports on this. …[baffled sigh]…. Would you put one of your models in a wheelchair?
ANNAH STRETTON: Snorts to show what she thinks of Kylie Jenner.
JIM MORA: This is the interesting question here.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah I don’t know why we’re giving this any air time. Ummm, y’know the reality of is it’s just stupid, as perhaps this whole thing is around the Kardashians, but, uh, no, no I wouldn’t put one of my models in a wheelchair. There IS a sensitivity around disability, and you know I would sit very uncomfortably with anything like this, and I just, I think this is just bizarre.
JIM MORA: Seventeen year old Ophelia Brown posted her own image and says “I wanted to show her that being in a wheelchair is not glamorous or fashionable or fun. A wheelchair’s a big part of my life. She seemed to be sitting on it for fun, or to look more edgy and cool, and I felt overwhelmed with annoyance and jealousy that she could just get in and out of a wheelchair.” And you can completely understand this reaction. But uh, errrrrmmm, it, it’s been defended as well. Uh errrr, people are saying, Look, you know, she didn’t necessarily mean anything by it, it’s just a shot of her in a wheel—- How do YOU view it, Tony?
TONY DOE: [lengthy pause] Tut. Yeah, “not necessarily meaning anything by it” is, errrr, it’s like “I was only obeying orders” or something like that isn’t it. I mean, you’re sort of INVOLVED, whether you like it or not, and the overall impression is, um, not good and to be fair, I mean these people, the Kardashians, they must have more P.R. advisers than Heaven knows who, and umm, you’d have thought that one of them might have tapped her on the shoulder and said, Oy, that’s not a very good idea doing that. Y’know, don’t because it’s gonna make, it’s bad for your image for a start, and it’s actually a rather crass and insensitive thing to do, so don’t do it.
JIM MORA: Or is the publicity the, is that what is the most important thing now? As with that—I don’t really wanna talk about the Caitlin Jenner billboard in Auckland, I mean, goodness knows it’s on the front pages of the online newspapers anyway. But, errrr, because not necessarily because it gives it oxygen, but ahhh, because media are so reactive now, but is that part of the point? And is it just gonna get worse and worse, so you can’t ignore people making statements, ‘cos they know it’s all, it’s going to cause outrage, it’s going to be reported.
TONY DOE: Y-y-y-yeaaahhh, it, it, it is a deliberately provocative act, and the idea is to get attention, and Mission Accomplished, isn’t it. You know, I mean, it draws attention to that fashion label. This is the, there was the story in the media today, I think, about a men’s accessories place, with rings, men’s hands on naked women—
JIM MORA: Oh yes, I saw, I saw the headline there.
TONY DOE: Yeah, a very similar sort of a thing, where the man’s hand with all these rings on it is on the back of this woman, um, he’s got clothes on, she hasn’t. People are saying it’s misogynist and various other things but the line of rings has sold out.
ANNAH STRETTON: [Guffaws sardonically] Huh.
JIM MORA: That’s the thing.
ANNAH STRETTON: Reacted to it, yeah.
TONY DOE: So, whatever happened, people wanted the rings, and the fact that all that attention was given to that advert drew people to that website and drew people to that product and they actually liked it when they saw it.
JIM MORA: Yeah, and Annah, you say quite reasonably I dunno why we’re discussing this, but presumably it may have the, y’know it’s supposed to educate people and shame them into silence and have billboards taken down and so on, but it may produce a kind of cacophony of constant rudeness, as people try and get edgier and edgier and edgier. That may well be the result.
TONY DOE:
ANNAH STRETTON: I dunno, we’ve got the billboard and we’ve got the wheelchair and they’re both the Jenners, aren’t they, with the—
JIM MORA: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah, um, I think a lot of it, they don’t NEED the publicity, so I don’t understand why they had to go into this space to get it, because there’s a lot of other ways that they could, um, yeah, I, I, I, I dunno, I just think that, y’know, people that are forced in to wheelchairs because of a disability, ummmm….
JIM MORA: Don’t appreciate seeing HER sitting in one.
ANNAH STRETTON: Yeah. She doesn’t need to DO this. I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it. And I don’t, obviously you can see that I don’t have a lot of time for the Jenners either, so—
TONY DOE: Ha ha!
JIM MORA: No I got that impression—-
ANNAH STRETTON: Heh heh.
JIM MORA: —-from your general tone.
TONY DOE: Yeah.
ANNAH STRETTON: Ah, heh heh.
As Annah Stretton continued her restrained snickering, the welling sounds of “Carmina Burana” signaled that, mercifully, it was time for them all to stop talking.
Straight after that public show of concern for the disabled, I sent the host the following email….
Dear Jim,
I find you and some of your panelists (like Chris Trotter and Lisa Scott) laughing at the plight of political dissidents to be far more offensive than anything Kylie Jenner has said or done.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
At LONG last.
New Zealand FINALLY ratifies the UN Convention Against Corruption.
‘Whistle-blowing’ works?
________________________________
Amy Adams 2 DECEMBER, 2015
NZ ratifies UN Convention Against Corruption
New Zealand has reinforced its commitment to combating corruption by ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.
The Convention is a legally binding global agreement to address corruption in the private and public spheres.
“While New Zealand already has a strong reputation for having low levels of corruption, we cannot be complacent. We have broadly complied with the Convention for a number of years, but we needed to make a limited number of law changes before we could ratify it,” says Ms Adams.
The necessary changes were made through the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill, which amended 15 Acts and was recently passed by Parliament.
“The changes made by the Bill, along with our formal ratification of the Convention, mean New Zealand’s ability to combat corruption is now stronger than ever.
Benefits of ratifying the Convention include ensuring our domestic anti-corruption measures remain robust and meet international best practice.
“It’s also a clear demonstration that New Zealand values a fair and corruption-free international trading system.
This is important for maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a trustworthy trading partner with zero-tolerance for corruption.
“As a member of the Convention, New Zealand will be able to better contribute to global anti-corruption efforts by providing a legal basis for extradition and mutual legal assistance between other member countries when dealing with corruption-related crimes,” says Ms Adams.
New Zealand joins 177 other countries as a State Party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The Convention focuses on four key areas: prevention, criminalisation, international cooperation, and recovery of the proceeds of corruption.
The specific amendments made by the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill to enable ratification of the Convention include:
the creation of new corruption offences related to solicitation and acceptance of bribes by foreign public officials, and trading in influence over public officials
increased penalties for private sector
corruption
clarification that no bribes are tax deductible.
_________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
What a joke. Kinda rich isn’t it when the Key National government is the most corrupt government this country has ever had.
<a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1512/S00052/another-26m-for-more-saudi-sheep-barbaric.htm