Sniggering at a logo will have as much cut-through as the Russia fantasy. Instead of these "witty" social media warriors patting each other on the back over their H.P. Lovecraft allusions—they'll be congratulating themselves that those dumb Trump supporters have never HEARD of H.P. Lovecraft—-do you not think it would be more useful to focus on the actual crimes and outrages perpetrated every day by Trump and his cronies?
And, no, saying mean things about the New York Times is not a crime.
Hilarious. So it was, as we should all have suspected, those dastardly Russian masterminds that manipulated the "bots" to made Gabbard look good and Harris look nasty and foolish.
At least ace reporter Emily Stewart got one thing right, when she admitted:
[Is there something you want or have to say about an Author of this site? Spit it out in your own words instead of hiding behind old comments by others archived on your own blog site like John Key’s bottom drawer. To me, it looks like the actions of a prejudiced coward but you may have something of interest to say so here is your opportunity; don’t blow it – Incognito ]
I believe they do, Tim. I'll recommend you to the producer if you like. You couldn't be worse than I was when I appeared on the program back in 2013…
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Um.
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s time to find out what our Panelists have been thinking about. Christine Rankin, what’s been on YOUR mind lately?
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Well, Jim, look, I’ve been so busy working for the reintroduction of corporal punishment for the under-fives that I haven’t had TIME to do any thinking at all for several years now. I really can’t think of one thing to talk about.
JIM MORA:[long, irritated silence] Mmmmm-kay. Morrissey, have YOU got something on your mind?
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummm, ahhhh, I’m going to abandon my, uh, carefully prepared speech about foreign policy, and comment on Christine’s failure to ummm, errr, honour her, ummmm, commitments to your show.
CHRISTINE RANKIN: [indignant] I’ve been BUSY.
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummmm, ahhhh, yeah. Ummm…to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, I will say this about Christine: “This woman’s thinking is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s very funny! I think he’s talking about you Christine!
MORRISSEY BREEN: And that’s all I have to say, Jim. Um.
JIM MORA: Short and sweet. That’s the way we like them on the Panel! Okay, next up, Lanthanide will tell us why he thinks a nuclear reactor in the middle of Christchurch would be a good idea. First, though, what do the Panelists think of this?
RANKIN:[fervently] That’s a SPLENDID idea. At last, somebody talking some sense….
I was half hoping I might hear you go head to head with someone like Joe Bennett sometime.
(I like a healthy dose of cynicism with an ounce of ridicule, just as long as one can be equally cynical and questioning of themselves. Otherwise it's so holier-than-thou. And as you will know, I'm the most perfectist specimen ever to grace the place that I could rival Sir John or Soimun. I just can't seem to find a decent interpreter at the moment).
Ew! It sounds a bit icky. Besides, it's commercial and if I keep having to boycott places and products based on the advertising that offends my superior intellect, I'll be forced to go back somewhere like the lower regions of the Himalyas to live an honest and natural life.
Now I think about it, I suppose that is an option – I could always get someone like Bryce Edwards to be my spiritual guide if he was prepared to grace me with his presence
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Incognito. My relationship with our good friend and colleague weka goes back a long way. It reached a bit of a nadir a few times when she banned me, but we usually kissed and made up.
I thought she'd gone for good when, during another ban late last year, I penned the following for D.P. Farrar's dodgy site….
I must say that, in spite of our rather chequered history, I'm glad to see weka back with us.
[I warned you not to blow it yet you lit the fuse and guess what happened?
KABOOM!!
Just a few weeks ago (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2019/) you were in the midst of a pile up and putting the boot into the same Author and (former) Moderator of this site. I left several Moderator warnings, which you would have seen despite they were not directed at you specifically.
Today, again, you couldn’t help yourself and you linked to a contemptable piece of narcissistic ‘writing’ destined for KiwiBlog attacking not one but several Authors and Moderators of TS. Indeed, that is where it belongs and where it ended up, I see. Good for you.
Yet today you claim “I’m glad to see weka back with us”!?
I counted 11 links today from and to your bottom drawer of which you seem to be immensely proud and of the fact that share this questionable habit with infamous historical figures such as Muldoon, Joe McCarthy, and Joe Stalin. If you read this site’s policy https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning you’ll see that link-spamming is a self-martyrdom offense. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
I’ll save the moderators here, i.e., moi, a lot of time by sending you back to KiwiBlog, where you belong IMHO.
The extreme right wing are at it again. White supremacists get a pretty easy ride on forums like Kiwiblog, with various commenters suggesting they are just 'standing up for their culture'.
But there is an inherent violence and hatred festering inside them, and the right wing in general, and it is this violence against ordinary innocents which manifests itself with increasing regularity…
Sadly, it seems we have forgotten who those social workers really are, what they do and, most importantly, why they must do it.
Darroch Ball says Oranga Tamariki social workers are hard-working, dedicated and right-minded people.
While the protesters were chanting "not one more child to be taken", I am incredulous that even though a child is admitted to hospital with non-accidental injuries every two days, we don't hear any protesters chanting "not one more child to be beaten".
It seems incredible that people somehow truly believe social workers can just decide one day to knock on a door and uplift a child. There are many steps social workers must take before the process of uplifting a child takes place, including the fact that a court must make that decision – not the social worker.
indeed. In my line of work I frequently deal with social workers – DHB as well as Oranga Tamariki. I have yet to meet one who does not care passionately about their work and the people they work with. Without exception, the situations in which they find themselves cause much soul searching, stress and distress. Most are heartbroken that they can only do so much for the children and families they work with.
The problem is that too little is being done to help the people who are struggling at the bottom and resorting to drugs and showing the distress caused by an uncaring nation. And some of those social workers are Maori. Things don't improve because a constipated government system that can't eliminate austerity and prejudicial thinking and get on to creating work schemes and bring young people back into school to get training for work, and advice on how to cope with the demands of a very young child on the immature parent.
We know about the children taken from their aborigine parents in Australia. And the cases here of the state swooping in like vultures rather than on angelic wings. It is a bad business that Oranga Tamirki has been set up to carry out, and the workers trying to cope in a humane way have a hard job.
But it is the system that has failed the parents, all their sorrows have not been forgotten and they have grown up unready to find their own secure and happy maturity and just cannot plan for the future they would choose, it given the support and training that they need.
It is just that the turbulence suggests unrest, and unrest must mean that the Government is somehow responsible. Look at Government failure to solve land use problems or failure to Kiwibuild. Shout it through the media and those who don't look at the detail can be swayed and therefore Opposition benefits.
there are real problems that real people have identified and are trying to change – it would be very sad if the heartfelt feelings of those affected were not respected.
A call for "not one baby more, not one acre more, not one whānau more" led speeches as about 400 rallied on Parliament's lawn on Tuesday to hand an open letter signed by 17,000 thousand people to Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.
Organising group Hands off our Tamariki Network is calling for a halt to children being removed from their families and iwi by Oranga Tamariki, in a debate spurred by a Newsroom video showing the trauma of an attempted uplift in Hastings this year.
"It's time for us to take control, as whānau, of our own wellbeing. It's time for us to take control as hapu, as iwi, as Māori for the wellbeing of our Tamariki and mokopuna," organiser Leonie Pihama told the crowd to cheers.
In 2012 Boris Johnson wrote about the dreadful fate awaiting Greece.
Every day we read of fresh horrors: of once proud bourgeois families queuing for bread, of people in agony because the government has run out of money to pay for cancer drugs. Pensions are being cut, living standards are falling, unemployment is rising, and the suicide rate is now the highest in the EU – having been one of the lowest.
By any standards we are seeing a whole nation undergo a protracted economic and political humiliation; and whatever the result of yesterday’s election, we seem determined to make matters worse. There is no plan for Greece to leave the euro, or none that I can discover. No European leader dares suggest that this might be possible, since that would be to profane the religion of Ever Closer Union. Instead we are all meant to be conniving in a plan to create a fiscal union which (if it were to mean anything) would mean undermining the fundamentals of Western democracy.
Schools may have to close, exams could be disrupted and fresh food for pupils’ meals could run short because of panic buying with prices soaring by up to 20%, according to a secret Department for Education analysis of the risks of a no-deal Brexit obtained by the Observer.
The five-page document – marked “Official Sensitive” and with the instruction “Do Not Circulate” – also raises the possibility of teacher absences caused by travel disruption, citing schools in Kent as particularly at risk.
On the dangers of food shortages to schools, it suggests that informing the public of the risks could make matters even worse.
In a section entitled School Food, it talks of the “risk that communications in this area could spark undue alarm or panic food buying among the general public”.
Pollies set us up to be pigeons encouraged to push buttons to get stories of how bad things are elsewhere and not notice that our own walls are shrinking inwards.
I would suggest don't listen to Boorish echoing being a comedian, watch the real ones. You will get the same feeling of happy confusion, but from professionals on Black Books.
…. and over many, many other issues. Te Reo's actually a really nice bloke, deep down, even forgiving me after I cast him, back in 2013, as one of the nastier characters from Animal Farm….
6 link whore linking to that second rate blog in this thread alone.
I appreciate you may be trying to brighten our days by giving us something to laugh at (and it IS funny). But if we wanted to look at shit like that we would.
James, please clarify, is there any evidence (in that RNZ news link) for a "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.", or is that wishful speculation on your part?
no evidence – just a reasonable guess given that they are on 6%.
[Making up shit is very naughty, James, even when you think it is reasonable shit. Naughty commenters have to sit on the naughty step so give me a good reason why you should escape this treatment. After all, you were quite rude to Robert when he challenged you. Perhaps you didn’t know that the person you had in mind is not a Green MP? – Incognito]
Yeah, he jumped to the wrong conclusion. I've had several conversations with Jack (at our conferences) and I'm really impressed – enough to rate him as #2 after James for the party list last time.
However, I suspect he is misreading the situation. Intelligence isn't the problem: he's right up there. Impatience due to youth. I had that too, still often gets me.
I believe the more consensus-building he engages in, the more he will learn that impatient radicals don't achieve much. For some reason, he's not acquiring the gnosis from James as role model. I have faith he'll suss it out eventually.
Given that Gareth is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group (to the media/public, I mean, and with the caveat that as far as I've seen), and he was the one who did stand against James & didn't leave when defeated, I'm taking it as not a leftist plot!
As always, I could be wrong, but reading Gareth's demeanour & body language as much as what he actually said makes me confident I'm not. Other than Jack, I've seen no sign that the group has lost confidence in James's leadership. If the left was clearly polling well, there would be.
The left isn't polling very well in other western countries either. I believe the perception that they need to build common ground with centrists has been spreading. Only residual leftist ideology is preventing consensus from firming up decisively throughout the west, and marginalising the right.
"However, Mr McDonald said he would be staying on as a party member, as he believed the Green Party were still the best hope for radical change in Parliament."
James, you wrote: "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election."
Laugh all you like, James, but it is about addressing an unmet need. A bumbling toddler learning to walk can be funny to watch and they have to learn to crawl before they can learn to walk, but one day they’ll walk …
Such limited defeatist thinking, James. Heard of the Paralympics? Seen what amazing things some people can do with just their arms? Ever seen the famous documentary Child of Our Time and the disabled solo mother Alison Lapperhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper? You may want to adjust your thinking about people and their appearances; they can be deceiving …
Greens are the only party to have consistently promoted policies for renters rather than owners or speculators. Fingers crossed something useful gets past the resisters.
True, good for differentiation in 2020 and may drag Winston's bunch and Labour's righties further to the left – but not much consolation for renters in the meantime.
I'm all in favour of new radiation machines, but what we were promised by Labour at the last election was a comprehensive cancer-fighting strategy, and Clarke himself was in favour of a standalone cancer-fighting agency.
The commitment to spreading machines around regions rather than further centralising specialist services is significant. Something the last govt could easily have done.
Clark has said his views on the value of a separate cancer agency have shifted now that he has access to internal information as a Minister. Also clear in recent interviews that an overall cancer strategy is coming in a few weeks.
"A cancer plan that works has to be comprehensive and must include radiation treatment as well as pharmaceuticals and preventative measures," Ardern told media in a press conference at Wellington Regional Hospital.
"Radiation is an effective form of cancer treatment, and one-in-two people with cancer would benefit from its use. But in New Zealand only one-in-three are currently accessing these services.
"That's why we are making the single largest Government capital investment in it."
I hope they will have an effective strategy to ensure sufficient staffing levels and a resilient workforce otherwise these expensive machines could be sitting idle for much of the time. I think that is a much harder issue to deal with than buying expensive kit.
This Government is promising the Earth but no spades and no extra pairs of hands to do the digging. The billion trees to be planted, KiwiBuild, mental health, et cetera. In education, they at least made an effort to increase the much-needed capacity but it did not go down well with the people that already existed on the ground. If they keep this up, they’ll erode (political) goodwill and credit and even JA won’t be able to save them.
NZ Māori Council calls for Simon Bridges to apologise for Tokelau comments
“What this man said about a whole section of New Zealand citizens is an absolute disgrace, but also highlights his performance on all issues related to Iwi Māori," he said in a statement.
"Let me be really clear here: Bridges was a member of a nine-year-old Government whereby our people resembled more of a third-world population. It was under his Government's watch that gave rise [to] record numbers of Māori committing suicide.
"It was under his Government's watch that homeless numbers rose, the health system began to falter under the weight of financial mismanagement, that Pharmac became a laughing joke, that more of our children than ever were taken by the state.”
– Matthew Tutaki
Matthew Tutaki another unimpressed with Simon Bridges.
No he won't – there is another shooting in the US, people must be becoming mindful of the part heavy handed, reckless, dirty politicking is having on people's lives. NZers need to recognise what is leadership and how and why it must be made to work for the country and put their full support behind that and be active in engaging with each other.
You've got a nice feature about your area. I want to start a business using it and it will mean that you have to share it with us, we will need the major part say 80/20, but there are a few jobs in it, and investment in luxury homes so there will be growth for you.
But these Waiheke Islanders aren't your ordinary sheeple.
About the same time i guess as Peter Ellis was being granted leave to appeal to the supreme court the crown was busy opposing it .The several reasons they gave to oppose it were fairly threadbare i thought but one really stands out !!they said that they doubted that the science of the time had changed very much in the interim wtf !!!i had to laugh albeit darkly according to Lynley Hood who has done exhaustive work on ellis's case and of the professional therapists of the time it was common to measure a little girls hymen and finding it to be more than four mil provided conclusive proof of sexual abuse .Well unsurprisingly [since the experts of the time were not very expert ]the science went on to find eventually that hymens come in all shapes an sizes quite naturally.The chief witness for the prosecution at ellis's trial was one of these above mentioned practitioners she practiced this sort of what can only be described imo as quackery for a living yet was held up by the crown as the last word in the study of sexual abuse .Seems the only thing that REALLY hasnt changed in the last twenty years is Crown Bias
'Crown bias' and general ignorance continues probably because of an unwillingness of 'experts' to examine their learnings to see if they are up to date, and then accept they have been at fault in the part.
Because of a lack of willingness by authorities to accept that mistakes may happen in medical proceedings, those involved are understandably reluctant to admit that their methods might be faulty. This is a problem for medical people believing they are following best practice, or who have made a rare error. Medical people should be able to report themselves or also if others do so, and be investigated and cautioned and would probably be placed under supervision of the general medical authorities from designated peers, rather than have to go through the usual rigid judgments that the public face.
An example is Semmelweiss and the extra and preventable deaths of mothers who were denied the hygienic care that he trialled and proved was effective. It appears that his mistreatment by the medical establishment is still not fully owned by history. One report says he was placed in an asylum due to possible alzheimers disease and there was beaten by staff, and died of a diseased wound. Another was that he was enticed into an asylum and then imprisoned on the basis he 'had lost his mind.'
The poor man had so many detractors who refused to accept the facts, and preferred to 'denigrate the man' that he became depressed, and lost his way in life I think. However, to some extent, he was the author of his own misfortune in that he delayed publishing his treatment and providing the information needed to prevent false stories and opinions to circulate.
His successor – János Diescher was appointed Semmelweis's successor at the Pest University maternity clinic. Immediately, mortality rates jumped sixfold to 6%, but the physicians of Budapest said nothing; there were no inquiries and no protests. Almost no one — either in Vienna or in Budapest — seems to have been willing to acknowledge Semmelweis's life and work.
His remains were transferred to Budapest in 1891. On 11 October 1964, they were transferred once more to the house in which he was born. The house is now a historical museum and library, honoring Ignaz Semmelweis.
A white man drove 700 kilometres to murder and maim brown people.
The next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics who feel empowered to act on their racism by an administration that excuses all minority misbehavior.
I agree Sam dept can be a trap tangata lending money on credit card just to survive .I see people using money stupidly all the time one should live like they are broke all the time to save money.
I think that the government should build minny housing smart small whare add that to the lower house perches prices for first house buyers prices. Im quite lucky I can build a whare in Hawksbay and Te Waiapu Valley to I will build them from recycled materials and make them carbon neutral to.
Keep those POLICE UNDER control Jacinda the Ihumatao issue is a international story now.
The Coalition Government has invested more in Aotearoa Healthcare systems in 2 years than national did in 9 so point your criticism to them.
Duncan you are being rude talking over the top of Jacinda that tells me a story.
Artificial intelligence will take JOBS off the common people don't bullshit its is going to hand more power to the 00.1% unless good laws are made to counteract that phenomenon Artificial Intelligence and robotics automation Will Be A Major Game Changer so a universal WAGE is needed to counteract that phenomenon The major effects of Artificial intelligence won't happen overnight but it will happen in the near future Ma te wa.
That business man with the bruising on his head is actually a national puppet whanau don't listen to his and duncans rhetoric about Our business economy its is going great the government has increased investment in the economy through higher wages and investment in Infrastructure this will flow through the economy and back to the government in tax take they increase investment in the MANY the 99.0% who pay most of the tax take .Not like national who invested heavily in the Wealth 00.1% who have accountants who hide their new money they got from national tax cuts ECT under their pillow .Consequence less tax take for the government LESS money to spend on the Tangata.
Have the Police got any video footage to back up there allegations of bad behavior by the protesters at Ihumatao did you see that they put a Wahine up to make their statement.????????.
That would be good for the Wahine who are getting treatment for breast cancer a trial of a new drug that will stop the side effects of hot flushes ka pai.
Eco Maori has no power bill now cost me $1800 to build quite easy to so long as the sandflys stop stuffing with it I went to cut wood again and my system had been turned on the battery were run down lucky I got a second battery from the Stihl shop in Naiper he has got a great product and a great price. My new battery was in the system
That's funny the drug lord trying to break out of jail impersonating his daughter
Sir Ngata was treated very badly by the crown if he was White he would have not even been charged.
I,,,,Whanau the police love using there intimidation practices and propaganda to try and upset people Whanau be cool like ME. They have heaps of police following Me around they use the public to try and intimidate me to but the fools are just giving Eco Maori more MANA thanks.
I think sitting on your hands and not changing the way trade training whanaga is stupid especially if some are failing in their business plans and failing to give te tangata the correct skills that are lacking in Aotearoa. I think it's stupid having to import people with the skills when we just have to train our OWN.
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We’ve seen this morning the latest step up in the Trump-initiated trade war, with the additional 50 per cent tariffs imposed on imports from China. If the tariff madness persists – but in fact even if were wound back in some places (eg some of the particularly absurd tariffs on ...
Weak as I am, no tears for youWeak as I am, no tears for youDeep as I am, I'm no one's foolWeak as I amSongwriters: Deborah Ann Dyer / Richard Keith Lewis / Martin Ivor Kent / Robert Arnold FranceMorena. This morning, I couldn’t settle on a single topic. Too ...
Australian policy makers are vastly underestimating how climate change will disrupt national security and regional stability across the Indo-Pacific. A new ASPI report assesses the ways climate impacts could threaten Indonesia’s economic and security interests ...
So here we are in London again because we’re now at the do-it-while-you-still-can stage of life. More warm wide-armed hugs, more long talks and long walks and drinks in lovely old pubs with our lovely daughter.And meanwhile the world is once more in one of its assume-the-brace-position stages.We turned on ...
Hi,Back in September of 2023, I got pitched an interview:David -Thanks for the quick response to the DM! Means the world. Re-stating some of the DM below for your team’s reference -I run a business called Animal Capital - we are a venture capital fund advised by Noah Beck, Paris ...
I didn’t want to write about this – but, alas, the 2020s have forced my hand. I am going to talk about the Trump Tariffs… and in the process probably irritate nearly everyone. You see, alone on the Internet, I am one of those people who think we need a ...
Maybe people are only just beginning to notice the close alignment of Russia and China. It’s discussed as a sudden new phenomenon in world affairs, but in fact it’s not new at all. The two ...
The High Court has just ruled that the government has been violating one of the oldest Treaty settlements, the Sealord deal: The High Court has found the Crown has breached one of New Zealand's oldest Treaty Settlements by appropriating Māori fishing quota without compensation. It relates to the 1992 ...
Darwin’s proposed Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct is set to be the heart of a new integrated infrastructure network in the Northern Territory, larger and better than what currently exists in northern Australia. However, the ...
Local body elections are in October, and so like a lot of people, I received the usual pre-election enrolment confirmation from the Orange Man in the post. And I was horrified to see that it included the following: Why horrified? After all, surely using email, rather ...
Australia needs to deliver its commitment under the Seoul Declaration to create an Australian AI safety, or security, institute. Australia is the only signatory to the declaration that has yet to meet its commitments. Given ...
Ko kōpū ka rere i te paeMe ko Hine RuhiTīaho mai tō arohaMe ko Hine RuhiDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da da da da daDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da ...
Army, Navy and AirForce personnel in ceremonial dress: an ongoing staffing exodus means we may get more ships, drones and planes but not have enough ‘boots on the ground’ to use them. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:PM Christopher Luxon says the Government can ...
If you’re a qualified individual looking to join the Australian Army, prepare for a world of frustration over the next 12 to 18 months. While thorough vetting is essential, the inefficiency of the Australian Defence ...
I’ve inserted a tidbit and rumours section1. Colonoscopy wait times increase, procedures drop under NationalWait times for urgent, non-urgent and surveillance colonoscopies all progressively worsened last year. Health NZ data shows the total number of publicly-funded colonoscopies dropped by more than 7 percent.Health NZ chief medical officer Helen Stokes-Lampard blamed ...
Three billion dollars has been wiped off the value of New Zealand’s share market as the rout of global financial markets caught up with the local market. A Sāmoan national has been sentenced for migrant exploitation and corruption following a five-year investigation that highlights the serious consequences of immigration fraud ...
This is a guest post by Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which we encourage you to check out. It is shared by kind permission. Rail Network Investment Plan quietly dropped While much media attention focused on the 31st March 2025 announcement that the replacement Cook ...
Amendments to Indonesia’s military law risk undermining civilian supremacy and the country’s defence capabilities. Passed by the House of Representatives on 20 March, the main changes include raising the retirement age and allowing military officers ...
The StrategistBy Alfin Febrian Basundoro and Jascha Ramba Santoso
So New Zealand is about to spend $12 billion on our defence forces over the next four years – with $9 million of it being new money that is not being spent on pressing needs here at home. Somehow this lavish spend-up on Defence is “affordable,” says PM Christopher Luxon, ...
Donald Trump’s philosophy about the United States’ place in the world is historically selfish and will impoverish his country’s spirit. While he claimed last week to be ‘liberating’ Americans from the exploiters and freeloaders who’ve ...
China’s crackdown on cyber-scam centres on the Thailand-Myanmar border may cause a shift away from Mandarin, towards English-speaking victims. Scammers also used the 28 March earthquake to scam international victims. Australia, with its proven capabilities ...
At the 2005 election campaign, the National Party colluded with a weirdo cult, the Exclusive Brethren, to run a secret hate campaign against the Greens. It was the first really big example of the rich using dark money to interfere in our democracy. And unfortunately, it seems that they're trying ...
Many of you will know that in collaboration with the University of Queensland we created and ran the massive open online course (MOOC) "Denial101x - Making sense of climate science denial" on the edX platform. Within nine years - between April 2015 and February 2024 - we offered 15 runs ...
How will the US assault on trade affect geopolitical relations within Asia? Will nations turn to China and seek protection by trading with each other? The happy snaps a week ago of the trade ministers ...
I mentioned this on Friday - but thought it deserved some emphasis.Auckland Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan has responded to Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa, saying police have cleared Brian Tamaki of all incitement charges relating to the Te Atatu library rainbow event assault.Hassan writes:..There is currently insufficient evidence to ...
With the report of the recent intelligence review by Heather Smith and Richard Maude finally released, critics could look on and wonder: why all the fuss? After all, while the list of recommendations is substantial, ...
Well, I don't know if I'm readyTo be the man I have to beI'll take a breath, I'll take her by my sideWe stand in awe, we've created lifeWith arms wide open under the sunlightWelcome to this place, I'll show you everythingSongwriters: Scott A. Stapp / Mark T. Tremonti.Today is ...
Staff at Kāinga Ora are expecting details of another round of job cuts, with the Green Party claiming more than 500 jobs are set to go. The New Zealand Defence Force has made it easier for people to apply for a job in a bid to get more boots on ...
Australia’s agriculture sector and food system have prospered under a global rules-based system influenced by Western liberal values. But the assumptions, policy approaches and economic frameworks that have traditionally supported Australia’s food security are no ...
Following Trump’s tariff announcement, US stock values fell by the most ever in value terms (US$6.6 trillion). Photo: Getty ImagesLong story shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:Donald Trump just detonated a neutron bomb under the globalised economy, but this time the Fed isn’t cutting interest rates to rescue ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 30, 2025 thru Sat, April 5, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
This is a longer read.Summary:Trump’s tariffs are reckless, disastrous and hurt the poorest countries deeply. It will stoke inflation, and may cause another recession. Funds/investments around the world have tanked.Trump’s actions emulate the anti-economic logic of another right wing libertarian politician - Liz Truss. She had her political career cut ...
We are all suckers for hope.He’s just being provocative, people will say, he wouldn’t really go that far. They wouldn’t really go that far.Germany in the 1920s and 30s was one of the world’s most educated, culturally sophisticated, and scientifically advanced societies.It had a strong democratic constitution with extensive civil ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Mars warming? Mars’ climate varies due to completely different reasons than Earth’s, and available data indicates no temperature trends comparable to Earth’s ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It takes a bit for Labor not to preference the Greens but on Friday it was announced that in the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, where Jewish MP Josh Burns is embattled, the ALP will run ...
By Layla Bailey-McDowell, RNZ Māori news journalist Legal experts and Māori advocates say the fight to protect Te Tiriti is only just beginning — as the controversial Treaty Principles Bill is officially killed in Parliament. The bill — which seeks to redefine the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney Australia’s relationship with its regional neighbours could be in doubt under a Coalition government after two Pacific leaders challenged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton over his weak climate stance. This week, ...
An additional tariff by the US on New Zealand exporters is harmful and the Minister of Trade has written to his American counterparts to tell them that. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophia Staite, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Social media is ablaze with reports of kids going wild at screenings of A Minecraft Movie. Some cinemas are cracking down. There are reports of cinemas calling ...
The Treaty Principles Bill has been brutally defeated in Parliament. We have highlights from key speeches, and explain why its demise is so unusual. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Fujak, Senior Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University Few issues in Australian sport generate as much media noise or emotional fan reactions as player movement, especially in our major winter codes the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isabelle Ng, PhD candidate, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University A couple of whip coral goby (_Bryaninops yongei_).randi_ang/Shutterstock Swim along the edge of a coral reef and you’ll often see schools of sleek, torpedo-shaped fishes gliding through the currents, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Kemp, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Languages are windows into the worlds of the people who speak them – reflecting what they value and experience daily. So perhaps it’s no surprise different languages highlight different ...
A new poem by Daniel Frears. Pale Straw this season’s colour is pale straw a revelatory colour for an oh so special season it might mess with your head, or mine you can rub my belly like I was a dog. all actions are allowed in this .. phase. if ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32) “A truly helpful treatise on seeing ...
Tara Ward watches the return of The Handmaid’s Tale and discovers the dystopia of the future now feels all too real. If you like your television so bleak that you need to curl into a ball and rock back and forward afterwards, then clear the floor because I have great ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national YouGov poll, conducted April 4–10 from a sample of 1,505, gave Labor a 52.5–47.5 lead, a 1.5-point gain for Labor ...
Submissions close today on proposed reforms that would mark the most significant shakeup of fisheries in decades. Here’s what you need to know.On February 12, oceans and fisheries minister Shane Jones held up a wagging finger and a shiny, plastic-comb-bound document as Wellington’s downtown seagulls squawked overhead. Among a ...
This bill sought to fundamentally alter the meaning of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by selectively and incorrectly interpreting the reo Māori text, says E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh. ...
Luxon has an opportunity to emerge as a stabiliser without the diplomatic risk of poking the bear in the White House. Last month, pundits from across the political spectrum were begging Christopher Luxon to add a modicum of clarity to the way he communicates after a disastrous interview with Mike ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing and Health Services Research, University of Newcastle Annie Spratt/Unsplash Hospital-acquired infections are infections patients didn’t have when they were admitted to hospital. The most common include wound infections after surgery, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Christina Hanna, CC BY-SA Once floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, several communities from north to south – including Kumeū, Kawatiri Westport and parts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arian Wallach, Future Fellow in Ecology, Queensland University of Technology michael garner/Shutterstock In 1938, zoologist Ellis Le Geyt Troughton mourned that Australia’s “gentle and specialized creatures” were “unable to cope with changed conditions and introduced enemies”. The role of these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Peetz, Laurie Carmichael Distinguished Research Fellow at the Centre for Future Work, and Professor Emeritus, Griffith Business School, Griffith University doublelee/Shutterstock Can the government actually make a difference to the wages Australians earn? A lot of attention always falls on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Egliston, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, University of Sydney Last week, Nintendo announced the June 5 release of its long anticipated Switch 2. But the biggest talking point wasn’t the console’s launch titles or features. At ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Woodman, TR Ashworth Professor in Sociology, The University of Melbourne Securing the welfare of future generations seems like solid grounds for judging policies and politicians, especially during an election campaign. Political legacies are on the line because the stakes are so ...
The Repugs get self-aware with their 2020 convention logo.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-convention-logo-cthulhu_n_5d43ba9ce4b0acb57fca1492
Sniggering at a logo will have as much cut-through as the Russia fantasy. Instead of these "witty" social media warriors patting each other on the back over their H.P. Lovecraft allusions—they'll be congratulating themselves that those dumb Trump supporters have never HEARD of H.P. Lovecraft—-do you not think it would be more useful to focus on the actual crimes and outrages perpetrated every day by Trump and his cronies?
And, no, saying mean things about the New York Times is not a crime.
I do apologise for failing to post a mozzie-approved droning whine about the awfulness of the media, Dems in general, Obama, and especially Clinton.
To make up for it, here's an "awww, that's so sweeeeet" piece just for you.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/donald-trumps-america/114665278/meet-the-guitarstrumming-kiwi-surfer-dude-whos-become-us-presidential-candidate-tulsi-gabbards-secret-weapon
Feel better now, Comrade Morrisski?
Thanks, Andre. Like anyone who sees a truly decent, as well as pulchritudinous, politician such as the Honorable Tulsi, I do indeed feel better.
Great work, Comrade.
https://i.imgflip.com/1cx5fe.jpg
Another piece you may enjoy about Tulsi and how social media manipulation works and what the objective might be.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/8/2/20751789/kamala-harris-destroyed-tulsi-gabbard-bots-google
Hilarious. So it was, as we should all have suspected, those dastardly Russian masterminds that manipulated the "bots" to made Gabbard look good and Harris look nasty and foolish.
At least ace reporter Emily Stewart got one thing right, when she admitted:
Never ending….'Be Good With Money'
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/114664770/bnz-knew-it-was-charging-too-much-for-kiwisaver-but-didnt-cut-fees-for-nearly-a-year
I am so happy Weka one of my favourite authors is back. She makes me want to look at the standard more often.
weka?
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/weka-has-go-at-john-pilger-aug-22-2015.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/standardistas-debate-merits-or.html
[Is there something you want or have to say about an Author of this site? Spit it out in your own words instead of hiding behind old comments by others archived on your own blog site like John Key’s bottom drawer. To me, it looks like the actions of a prejudiced coward but you may have something of interest to say so here is your opportunity; don’t blow it – Incognito
]
This pathetic "look at moi" need you have to link back to your own site – is that what's known as linkwhoring?
'Like John Key's bottom drawer' – amusing incognito, and perfectly framed.
Muldoon had a list as well. And Joe McCarthy. And Joe Stalin.
I am an inveterate collector of choice insults, esp. those directed at moi….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/masters-of-abuse-no1-rick-boyd-jan-27.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-tribute-to-redbaiter-rip-oct-16-2011.html
See my Moderation note @ 11:25 AM.
Do you know if RNZ's 'The Panel' hold auditions? and What's the difference between a "prejudiced coward" and an embittered old curmudgeon?
Or maybe it's all an act
I don’t know. All I care about here is behaviour here; what people do in their own sandpits is up to them.
I believe they do, Tim. I'll recommend you to the producer if you like. You couldn't be worse than I was when I appeared on the program back in 2013…
I was half hoping I might hear you go head to head with someone like Joe Bennett sometime.
(I like a healthy dose of cynicism with an ounce of ridicule, just as long as one can be equally cynical and questioning of themselves. Otherwise it's so holier-than-thou. And as you will know, I'm the most perfectist specimen ever to grace the place that I could rival Sir John or Soimun. I just can't seem to find a decent interpreter at the moment).
You're too perfect for The Panel, Tim. You need to go on…. The Huddle.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/wimp-walloping-williams-and-ralston-vs.html
Ew! It sounds a bit icky. Besides, it's commercial and if I keep having to boycott places and products based on the advertising that offends my superior intellect, I'll be forced to go back somewhere like the lower regions of the Himalyas to live an honest and natural life.
Now I think about it, I suppose that is an option – I could always get someone like Bryce Edwards to be my spiritual guide if he was prepared to grace me with his presence
Lol OwT
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Incognito. My relationship with our good friend and colleague weka goes back a long way. It reached a bit of a nadir a few times when she banned me, but we usually kissed and made up.
I thought she'd gone for good when, during another ban late last year, I penned the following for D.P. Farrar's dodgy site….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-clobbering-machine-strikes-again.html
I must say that, in spite of our rather chequered history, I'm glad to see weka back with us.
[I warned you not to blow it yet you lit the fuse and guess what happened?
KABOOM!!
Just a few weeks ago (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-07-2019/) you were in the midst of a pile up and putting the boot into the same Author and (former) Moderator of this site. I left several Moderator warnings, which you would have seen despite they were not directed at you specifically.
Today, again, you couldn’t help yourself and you linked to a contemptable piece of narcissistic ‘writing’ destined for KiwiBlog attacking not one but several Authors and Moderators of TS. Indeed, that is where it belongs and where it ended up, I see. Good for you.
Yet today you claim “I’m glad to see weka back with us”!?
I counted 11 links today from and to your bottom drawer of which you seem to be immensely proud and of the fact that share this questionable habit with infamous historical figures such as Muldoon, Joe McCarthy, and Joe Stalin. If you read this site’s policy https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/#banning you’ll see that link-spamming is a self-martyrdom offense. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
I’ll save the moderators here, i.e., moi, a lot of time by sending you back to KiwiBlog, where you belong IMHO.
Banned for six months – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:01 PM.
Also chuffed to see weka writing here again!
Good to see you too PM! So sorry you got dragged into that mess.
+1
Thank-you TFG
+1
Second that
Yes I'm glad to see her too – she often lifts the standard of conversation.
The extreme right wing are at it again. White supremacists get a pretty easy ride on forums like Kiwiblog, with various commenters suggesting they are just 'standing up for their culture'.
But there is an inherent violence and hatred festering inside them, and the right wing in general, and it is this violence against ordinary innocents which manifests itself with increasing regularity…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/114736833/us-police-warn-of-an-active-shooter-at-mall-in-el-paso-texas
I agree with this defence of Oranga Tamariki
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/114678991/stop-blaming-oranga-tamariki-for-child-uplifts
indeed. In my line of work I frequently deal with social workers – DHB as well as Oranga Tamariki. I have yet to meet one who does not care passionately about their work and the people they work with. Without exception, the situations in which they find themselves cause much soul searching, stress and distress. Most are heartbroken that they can only do so much for the children and families they work with.
The problem is that too little is being done to help the people who are struggling at the bottom and resorting to drugs and showing the distress caused by an uncaring nation. And some of those social workers are Maori. Things don't improve because a constipated government system that can't eliminate austerity and prejudicial thinking and get on to creating work schemes and bring young people back into school to get training for work, and advice on how to cope with the demands of a very young child on the immature parent.
We know about the children taken from their aborigine parents in Australia. And the cases here of the state swooping in like vultures rather than on angelic wings. It is a bad business that Oranga Tamirki has been set up to carry out, and the workers trying to cope in a humane way have a hard job.
But it is the system that has failed the parents, all their sorrows have not been forgotten and they have grown up unready to find their own secure and happy maturity and just cannot plan for the future they would choose, it given the support and training that they need.
My significant other comes into contact daily with situations of children living with neglect, deprivation and poverty.
Some of the stories are heartbreaking.
In trying to understand where the nay-sayers are coming from, I think it has to do more with the system. Perhaps making it a little less Pakeha.
My suspicious mind wonders if there is a bit of stirring out of sight from a political party?
Which party are you referring to Ian?
I am scratching my head to think which one benefits.
It is just that the turbulence suggests unrest, and unrest must mean that the Government is somehow responsible. Look at Government failure to solve land use problems or failure to Kiwibuild. Shout it through the media and those who don't look at the detail can be swayed and therefore Opposition benefits.
How's that for Convoluted Gsays?
there are real problems that real people have identified and are trying to change – it would be very sad if the heartfelt feelings of those affected were not respected.
Yes, good piece. We need to get past the blame games and get to the core of the problem:
I see Oranga Tamariki as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
As my SO says, not a sausage about the three children who've died since the uplift story aired.
Thanks for linking to this Ian.
In 2012 Boris Johnson wrote about the dreadful fate awaiting Greece.
Every day we read of fresh horrors: of once proud bourgeois families queuing for bread, of people in agony because the government has run out of money to pay for cancer drugs. Pensions are being cut, living standards are falling, unemployment is rising, and the suicide rate is now the highest in the EU – having been one of the lowest.
By any standards we are seeing a whole nation undergo a protracted economic and political humiliation; and whatever the result of yesterday’s election, we seem determined to make matters worse. There is no plan for Greece to leave the euro, or none that I can discover. No European leader dares suggest that this might be possible, since that would be to profane the religion of Ever Closer Union. Instead we are all meant to be conniving in a plan to create a fiscal union which (if it were to mean anything) would mean undermining the fundamentals of Western democracy.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9337911/Dithering-Europe-is-heading-for-the-democratic-dark-ages.html
Schools may have to close, exams could be disrupted and fresh food for pupils’ meals could run short because of panic buying with prices soaring by up to 20%, according to a secret Department for Education analysis of the risks of a no-deal Brexit obtained by the Observer.
The five-page document – marked “Official Sensitive” and with the instruction “Do Not Circulate” – also raises the possibility of teacher absences caused by travel disruption, citing schools in Kent as particularly at risk.
On the dangers of food shortages to schools, it suggests that informing the public of the risks could make matters even worse.
In a section entitled School Food, it talks of the “risk that communications in this area could spark undue alarm or panic food buying among the general public”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/03/secret-education-report-no-deal-brexit-school-chaos
Pollies set us up to be pigeons encouraged to push buttons to get stories of how bad things are elsewhere and not notice that our own walls are shrinking inwards.
I would suggest don't listen to Boorish echoing being a comedian, watch the real ones. You will get the same feeling of happy confusion, but from professionals on Black Books.
What happened toTRP? Is he still about here?
I miss his insight and take on things.
TRP?
I miss the guy, big time. We had our run-ins over the years, re the Greens….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/breen-vs-te-reo-putake-round-94-dec-9.html
re Iain Lees-Galloway and his cronies bullying a couple of women at Waitangi….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/labour-puts-up-cordon-of-black-suited.html
…. and over many, many other issues. Te Reo's actually a really nice bloke, deep down, even forgiving me after I cast him, back in 2013, as one of the nastier characters from Animal Farm….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-clobbering-machine-aug-4-2013.html
6 link whore linking to that second rate blog in this thread alone.
I appreciate you may be trying to brighten our days by giving us something to laugh at (and it IS funny). But if we wanted to look at shit like that we would.
Thanks for the advice, James. I'll try to keep the linkwhoring to a minimum, in future.
and for that we thank you.
Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/395936/high-ranking-greens-member-pulls-pin-before-election
James, please clarify, is there any evidence (in that RNZ news link) for a "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election.", or is that wishful speculation on your part?
no evidence – just a reasonable guess given that they are on 6%.
[Making up shit is very naughty, James, even when you think it is reasonable shit. Naughty commenters have to sit on the naughty step so give me a good reason why you should escape this treatment. After all, you were quite rude to Robert when he challenged you. Perhaps you didn’t know that the person you had in mind is not a Green MP? – Incognito]
Thanks for clarifying; just an evidence-free guess, and reasonable in your opinion.
Yeah, he jumped to the wrong conclusion. I've had several conversations with Jack (at our conferences) and I'm really impressed – enough to rate him as #2 after James for the party list last time.
However, I suspect he is misreading the situation. Intelligence isn't the problem: he's right up there. Impatience due to youth. I had that too, still often gets me.
I believe the more consensus-building he engages in, the more he will learn that impatient radicals don't achieve much. For some reason, he's not acquiring the gnosis from James as role model. I have faith he'll suss it out eventually.
Or Jack is sounding out whether there's the will for a change of male co-leader – given he's not leaving the party.
Did you see the reports from One News & 3News? The former was better. Had a clip of a bearded Gareth Hughes notably refraining from either endorsing Jack or criticising James. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/green-party-candidate-resigns-over-dissatisfaction-co-leader-james-shaw?auto=6067823611001
Given that Gareth is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group (to the media/public, I mean, and with the caveat that as far as I've seen), and he was the one who did stand against James & didn't leave when defeated, I'm taking it as not a leftist plot!
As always, I could be wrong, but reading Gareth's demeanour & body language as much as what he actually said makes me confident I'm not. Other than Jack, I've seen no sign that the group has lost confidence in James's leadership. If the left was clearly polling well, there would be.
The left isn't polling very well in other western countries either. I believe the perception that they need to build common ground with centrists has been spreading. Only residual leftist ideology is preventing consensus from firming up decisively throughout the west, and marginalising the right.
"Mr Shaw does not seem phased" looks cool, but I suspect she meant fazed. Google's meaning: disturb or disconcert (someone).
Illiteracy in the media is inevitable in the digital age, when online emoting displaces language. Roll with them changes.
"… is the only self-declared leftist in the leadership group"
wake up dennis
https://twitter.com/isaac_davison/status/1154531117573132288
So what? No evidence of anyone in the Greens leadership group declaring themselves leftist. Plenty of centrists support Maoris.
"No-Evidence James"
Fits like a glove!
The fact that you have not held others here to the same level when they make comments on national members leaving – just shows your hypocrisy.
"However, Mr McDonald said he would be staying on as a party member, as he believed the Green Party were still the best hope for radical change in Parliament."
James, you wrote: "Green MP thinking they won’t make 5% next election."
What "Green MP" are you meaning?
I can't follow your thinking at all!
if you can’t work it out – have someone read it to you.
Would you be so kind, James? As I am, invariably, for you?
James sometimes falls back on this feeble type of response when his 'rush of blood' position is untenable (far more often than not!)
Jack's not an MP.
Yes, weka; we know, but did James know?
That's what I was seeking to learn.
See my Moderation note @ 4:13 PM.
Wot twaddle from Troll-James @ 3:53!
You should fire your Headline Editor, James; he's hopeless.
I feel for Jack, the centrist drift is a concern… This is not the party for the radical left.
Feel free to start one.
Ed and I have discussed it before…
Paywalled so I can't read much, but it looks like scumbag Nottingham is denied an appeal against his limp sentence: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12235806
Not much pickup yet, but Marama Davidson's speech to the Greens conference includes a rent-to-own housing policy proposal.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1908/S00043/speech-marama-davidson-green-party-agm.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1908/S00042/greens-to-focus-on-supporting-new-zealanders-who-rent.htm
This phrase is hardly reassuring:
Guess that means Labour and Winston First get to veto or dilute it..
”We are ready to negotiate our Rent-to-own policy as part of the Kiwibuild reset”
Lol hard to believe kiwibuild could be more of a mess – but now the greens are negotiating policy in there. It’s the gift that keeps delivering.
Laugh all you like, James, but it is about addressing an unmet need. A bumbling toddler learning to walk can be funny to watch and they have to learn to crawl before they can learn to walk, but one day they’ll walk …
sadly however incognito- to use your analogy kiwibuild was born with legs that don’t work.
Such limited defeatist thinking, James. Heard of the Paralympics? Seen what amazing things some people can do with just their arms? Ever seen the famous documentary Child of Our Time and the disabled solo mother Alison Lapper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Lapper? You may want to adjust your thinking about people and their appearances; they can be deceiving …
Greens are the only party to have consistently promoted policies for renters rather than owners or speculators. Fingers crossed something useful gets past the resisters.
"We are ready to negotiate our Rent-to-own policy as part of the Kiwibuild reset"
Is this the Greens putting it out there so it's more obvious what will get removed by Labour or NZF? (I haven't listened to the speech yet).
True, good for differentiation in 2020 and may drag Winston's bunch and Labour's righties further to the left – but not much consolation for renters in the meantime.
No free markets on a dead planet.
https://twitter.com/jswatz/status/1157331249834467328
http://archive.li/naaEl
This is exactly why the Nat's are furious with Shaw's speech and appearance on The Nation.
They realise Shaw has drawn a line and the Nats are on the wrong side of it.
I'm all in favour of new radiation machines, but what we were promised by Labour at the last election was a comprehensive cancer-fighting strategy, and Clarke himself was in favour of a standalone cancer-fighting agency.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12255486
This announcement just looks like ordinary plant asset management.
No connection to a broader anything, and otherwise looks like a little tv news capture on a slow Sunday news cycle.
Labour promised a lot of things.
I look forward to others bringing more up.
What a technicolour yawn. Don't be gross.
Don't get me wrong.
They had no choice and it worked.
This doesn't absolve them of not keeping hardly any.
The commitment to spreading machines around regions rather than further centralising specialist services is significant. Something the last govt could easily have done.
Clark has said his views on the value of a separate cancer agency have shifted now that he has access to internal information as a Minister. Also clear in recent interviews that an overall cancer strategy is coming in a few weeks.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114741570/government-announces-package-to-aid-cancer-treatment-in-the-regions
I also like to note that the PM was working on Sunday
Any time she wants to show us all that plan would be great.
Meantime, it's a set of machines. MMM shiny.
wow so insulting from you – seems like you really hate the PM – lol sad wee fella
lol
I hope they will have an effective strategy to ensure sufficient staffing levels and a resilient workforce otherwise these expensive machines could be sitting idle for much of the time. I think that is a much harder issue to deal with than buying expensive kit.
+100
A billion or so into mental health, no one trained to do the extra work.
No improvement to people.
This Government is promising the Earth but no spades and no extra pairs of hands to do the digging. The billion trees to be planted, KiwiBuild, mental health, et cetera. In education, they at least made an effort to increase the much-needed capacity but it did not go down well with the people that already existed on the ground. If they keep this up, they’ll erode (political) goodwill and credit and even JA won’t be able to save them.
NZ Māori Council calls for Simon Bridges to apologise for Tokelau comments
– Matthew Tutaki
Matthew Tutaki another unimpressed with Simon Bridges.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/nz-m-ori-council-calls-for-simon-bridges-to-apologise-for-tokelau-comments.html
Do you think Bridges will apologise?
No he won't – there is another shooting in the US, people must be becoming mindful of the part heavy handed, reckless, dirty politicking is having on people's lives. NZers need to recognise what is leadership and how and why it must be made to work for the country and put their full support behind that and be active in engaging with each other.
Make America Safe Again.
You've got a nice feature about your area. I want to start a business using it and it will mean that you have to share it with us, we will need the major part say 80/20, but there are a few jobs in it, and investment in luxury homes so there will be growth for you.
But these Waiheke Islanders aren't your ordinary sheeple.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395950/sheep-heading-to-parliament-for-waiheke-petition
About the same time i guess as Peter Ellis was being granted leave to appeal to the supreme court the crown was busy opposing it .The several reasons they gave to oppose it were fairly threadbare i thought but one really stands out !!they said that they doubted that the science of the time had changed very much in the interim wtf !!!i had to laugh albeit darkly according to Lynley Hood who has done exhaustive work on ellis's case and of the professional therapists of the time it was common to measure a little girls hymen and finding it to be more than four mil provided conclusive proof of sexual abuse .Well unsurprisingly [since the experts of the time were not very expert ]the science went on to find eventually that hymens come in all shapes an sizes quite naturally.The chief witness for the prosecution at ellis's trial was one of these above mentioned practitioners she practiced this sort of what can only be described imo as quackery for a living yet was held up by the crown as the last word in the study of sexual abuse .Seems the only thing that REALLY hasnt changed in the last twenty years is Crown Bias
'Crown bias' and general ignorance continues probably because of an unwillingness of 'experts' to examine their learnings to see if they are up to date, and then accept they have been at fault in the part.
Because of a lack of willingness by authorities to accept that mistakes may happen in medical proceedings, those involved are understandably reluctant to admit that their methods might be faulty. This is a problem for medical people believing they are following best practice, or who have made a rare error. Medical people should be able to report themselves or also if others do so, and be investigated and cautioned and would probably be placed under supervision of the general medical authorities from designated peers, rather than have to go through the usual rigid judgments that the public face.
An example is Semmelweiss and the extra and preventable deaths of mothers who were denied the hygienic care that he trialled and proved was effective. It appears that his mistreatment by the medical establishment is still not fully owned by history. One report says he was placed in an asylum due to possible alzheimers disease and there was beaten by staff, and died of a diseased wound. Another was that he was enticed into an asylum and then imprisoned on the basis he 'had lost his mind.'
The poor man had so many detractors who refused to accept the facts, and preferred to 'denigrate the man' that he became depressed, and lost his way in life I think. However, to some extent, he was the author of his own misfortune in that he delayed publishing his treatment and providing the information needed to prevent false stories and opinions to circulate.
His successor – János Diescher was appointed Semmelweis's successor at the Pest University maternity clinic. Immediately, mortality rates jumped sixfold to 6%, but the physicians of Budapest said nothing; there were no inquiries and no protests. Almost no one — either in Vienna or in Budapest — seems to have been willing to acknowledge Semmelweis's life and work.
His remains were transferred to Budapest in 1891. On 11 October 1964, they were transferred once more to the house in which he was born. The house is now a historical museum and library, honoring Ignaz Semmelweis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Oooh! Shot of the day by Pania Newton.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395944/police-remove-guns-from-ihumatao-protesters-worried
yep fucken true that – the lines are hardening – bad stupid police move – ffs how about put the guitar AND the weapons down police.
ffs
As usual, old men light the fuse.
https://twitter.com/feministabulous/status/1157789629816410113
https://twitter.com/feministabulous/status/1157796277712818177
Of course Bernie runs with the NRA line.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1157815349120765954
A white man drove 700 kilometres to murder and maim brown people.
The next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics who feel empowered to act on their racism by an administration that excuses all minority misbehavior.
https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/07/10/obamas-race-war
Kia Ora The Am Show.
I agree Sam dept can be a trap tangata lending money on credit card just to survive .I see people using money stupidly all the time one should live like they are broke all the time to save money.
I think that the government should build minny housing smart small whare add that to the lower house perches prices for first house buyers prices. Im quite lucky I can build a whare in Hawksbay and Te Waiapu Valley to I will build them from recycled materials and make them carbon neutral to.
Keep those POLICE UNDER control Jacinda the Ihumatao issue is a international story now.
The Coalition Government has invested more in Aotearoa Healthcare systems in 2 years than national did in 9 so point your criticism to them.
Duncan you are being rude talking over the top of Jacinda that tells me a story.
Artificial intelligence will take JOBS off the common people don't bullshit its is going to hand more power to the 00.1% unless good laws are made to counteract that phenomenon Artificial Intelligence and robotics automation Will Be A Major Game Changer so a universal WAGE is needed to counteract that phenomenon The major effects of Artificial intelligence won't happen overnight but it will happen in the near future Ma te wa.
That business man with the bruising on his head is actually a national puppet whanau don't listen to his and duncans rhetoric about Our business economy its is going great the government has increased investment in the economy through higher wages and investment in Infrastructure this will flow through the economy and back to the government in tax take they increase investment in the MANY the 99.0% who pay most of the tax take .Not like national who invested heavily in the Wealth 00.1% who have accountants who hide their new money they got from national tax cuts ECT under their pillow .Consequence less tax take for the government LESS money to spend on the Tangata.
Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/PWoDSGfSu6o
People across the lower North Island have reported feeling an early morning 4.1-magnitude earthquake, centred 20 kilometres south of Wellington.
The quake struck at 3.38am on Tuesday and was centred at a depth of 38km, GeoNet said. Ka kite ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/114775129/41magnitude-quake-felt-across-lower-north-island
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/mOFvJVroAJE
Kia Ora Newshub.
Have the Police got any video footage to back up there allegations of bad behavior by the protesters at Ihumatao did you see that they put a Wahine up to make their statement.????????.
That would be good for the Wahine who are getting treatment for breast cancer a trial of a new drug that will stop the side effects of hot flushes ka pai.
Eco Maori has no power bill now cost me $1800 to build quite easy to so long as the sandflys stop stuffing with it I went to cut wood again and my system had been turned on the battery were run down lucky I got a second battery from the Stihl shop in Naiper he has got a great product and a great price. My new battery was in the system
That's funny the drug lord trying to break out of jail impersonating his daughter
Sir Ngata was treated very badly by the crown if he was White he would have not even been charged.
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I,,,,Whanau the police love using there intimidation practices and propaganda to try and upset people Whanau be cool like ME. They have heaps of police following Me around they use the public to try and intimidate me to but the fools are just giving Eco Maori more MANA thanks.
I think sitting on your hands and not changing the way trade training whanaga is stupid especially if some are failing in their business plans and failing to give te tangata the correct skills that are lacking in Aotearoa. I think it's stupid having to import people with the skills when we just have to train our OWN.
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora The Crowd Goes Wild.
Ka pai Annan for running that Waka Ama story ka kite ano