I still spend way too much time shaking my damn head about how much covid and vaccine misinformation and disinformation appears here at The Standard. That misinformation and disinformation that appears here is broadly characterised by the points in the link:
But the bad information based on these premises has key flaws.
Myths will often be based on half-truths. The misleading argument will start with a fact, but end on a faulty conclusion. It might use innuendo, or pose a question that is impossible to answer but raises doubts. It will cite research out of context.
These methods are so common behavioural scientists have developed a framework for the five techniques of science denial, known by the acronym FLICC: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry-picking, and conspiracy theories.
A key point of context for any idea or piece of information about covid and vaccines against it is how transmissible the now dominant delta strain has become.
Delta may be as much as five times more transmissible than the original strain from 2019. That high transmissibility means almost everyone will be exposed to it sometime in the nearish future.
Those that don't have some kind of immunity, either from vaccination or prior exposure, will get infected and diseased to a greater or lesser severity. Even some of those with prior immunity will still get infected, but their partial protection means their illness will almost certainly be mild and short, as opposed to the severe and dangerous disease suffered by many of those without prior protection.
So the important context when considering any kind of risk or adverse reaction is: how does this vaccine risk compare to the same risk from the real live disease?
Almost all of the highly publicised risks of potential very low frequency problems from the vaccine happen at a much higher rate in those that get the actual disease. Blood clotting, myocarditis and pericarditis, etc are frequent problems arising from from covid infection, but are very rare following vaccination.
The sole exception as far as I know is the risk of anaphylaxis following the Pfizer vaccine. But this is a reaction to one of the ingredients in the 'delivery system', not a reaction to the mRNA that does the actual work of training our immune system to recognise and deal with the virus. Furthermore, provided the vaccinee follows the advice to stay at the vaccination site for the recommended 15 minutes or half hour, the medical staff on site will safely deal with any kind of anaphylactic reaction that occurs with no long term aftereffects. Scary to be sure, but as long as it's dealt with appropriately it isn't long-term harmful.
Delta may be as much as five times more transmissible than the original strain from 2019. That high transmissibility means almost everyone will be exposed to it sometime in the nearish future.
And when I suggested this possibility a year back – I was assured the vaccines would be the silver bullet to eradicating COVID. Well that's off the table now isn't it?
I've lost count of how many times the 'experts' you tout so aggressively here have had to shift their ground. Their politiced, fake certainty has let us down repeatedly – when in reality they were learning as all this unfolded just as the rest of us are.
But the point omitted above is that not only is Delta five times more transmissible – it's also become significantly dangerous as evidenced by the greater number of young people now falling seriously ill with it. This trajectory of greater transmissibility AND greater morbidity is in my mind an unusual signal – one that if it continues will be catastrophic.
All diseases follow a path of high morbidity and low transmission, or vice-versa. Any virus that burned through it's sole host species by becoming both highly transmissible and lethal, would die off itself and normally evolution ensures this doesn't happen. But SARS-COVID-2 may well be optimised to respond aggressively to selection pressure in ways we simply don't understand yet.
Personally I always said vaccines would be a valuable part of the toolkit – and I've had my first AZ shot last week. But that isn't reason to stop learning as this incredibly complex story unwinds.
My position has always been that we should consider every possible tool – and there remains plenty of good evidence to support both Vitamin D, and Ivermectin as probably useful. On the other hand it's clear from the outset that you have taken narrow line that tells us that vaccines are the only solution. Well how did that turn out?
It seems to me that if Trump had one day idly mentioned that the sky was blue, you'd still be telling us this was fake news and all experts agreed it was actually pink with green polka dots.
Who assured you that "the vaccines would be the silver bullet to eradicating COVID" ? Links please or withdrawal.
You are outright lying in your statement "On the other hand it's clear from the outset that you have taken narrow line that tells us that vaccines are the only solution."
Here's a sample of my comments from last year on the possibilities of vaccines or treatments;
You still need to back your strong claims about ivermectin and vitamin D. Actual links to credible studies. Even better would be showing where ivermectin and/or vitamin D have actually been useful in combating covid. Both ivermectin and vitamin D were suggested as useful treatments early last year. Surely if they had any value, someone somewhere would have worked out an effective protocol for using them that stands up to scrutiny, given how desperate the need is. Where is it?
Yet right here in this thread you're taking the strong line that everyone MUST get vaccinated with no nuance whatsoever. Comments from a year ago don't seem to be factored into your position anymore.
This entire pandemic has been fumbled because it politicised and tribalised by people like you constantly touting a fake certainty – when it would have been a whole smarter to have acknowledged that no-one really understood this virus and that we needed to be open to all the possible tools we could bring to bear on it – without all the shouting down.
Exactly. The so called experts have constantly assured us this was just another zoonotic virus. Well so far they've not only failed to prove their case – but in preventing us from thinking about it's probable origin from a GoF lab escape – they've totally failed to think about what it's optimised to do in evolutionary terms and how it could react to selection pressure like lockdowns and vaccines.
Not that these public health tools are not useful, but that we've gone about applying them very unintelligently. In the last quarter of 2020 we had a window of opportunity to globally eradicate COVID with a highly co-ordinated campaign that might have lasted six weeks or so. Well that ship has sailed.
I do find it very droll to watch card carrying, hyper virtuous lefties like yourself jackbooting around social media as shills and enforcers for big pharma.
Delta may be as much as five times more transmissible than the original strain from 2019. That high transmissibility means almost everyone will be exposed to it sometime in the nearish future.
Those that don't have some kind of immunity, either from vaccination or prior exposure, will get infected and diseased to a greater or lesser severity. Even some of those with prior immunity will still get infected, but their partial protection means their illness will almost certainly be mild and short, as opposed to the severe and dangerous disease suffered by many of those without prior protection.
So, basically, we end up getting an annual jab tailored for the most likely variants established mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.
While there's been lots of talk about booster third jabs, I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen talk of a booster with a modified recipe tailored for better efficacy against Delta.
It's really unfortunate the pop up clip when you enter the page treats listeners like pre-schoolers. I was over it in seconds.
FLICC, as Andre highlights, is of great interest to me. They've nailed the techniques/misunderstandings people use. Like my recent 'conversation' (lecture from man standing over and jabbing finger at me) regarding climate/electrification had:
False expert (electrician), logical fallacies (not enough lithium), impossible expectations (100% renewables now!), cherry picking (one ZB talking point to rule them all). Only the conspiracy theories were missing but I'm sure if I gave it a minute he would be full of them.
I strongly suspect P is fuelling a significant portion of vaccine paranoia (anti-government (actually scared of being caught)) of many who are also attracted to conspiratorial nonsense as the substance fries the brain and leads to delusional thinking.
How closely our P epidemic correlates to our conspiracy uptake is unknown. It wouldn't take too much digging to see if there's a correlation between meth and this particular brand of madness. Meth has always been a popular hillbilly drug. Anti-social by nature, cliques of users form and anti-govt/authority nonsense is reinforced by the group.
Not sure I understand your reply very well, but I do appreciate that social media is far more responsible for the viral spread of nonsense than the cliques of hard drug users we have in every town.
I've found a pattern that might not be true outside of my friends group – which spans several decades and ranges from homeless to rich and famous. The P users seem to be riddled with anti-vax mentality and tropes.
“The perspective that one has as a person of faith and as a person of science is to take all of the input of knowledge that we can get, put it all together and see what new understanding emerges, because it’s a system and systems have emerging properties and that is what makes them alive.”
Isn't it time this stuff being promulgated by commenter KSaysHi is removed from this site? It does not fall into the category of valid alternate viewpoints, but is a series of 'untruths' being presented as 'truths'.
He/she clearly never reads the peer reviewed scientific material presented in response. I'm beginning to suspect they are a somewhat screwed up troll.
Anne the comment in question involves an industry vaccine expert. I'm afraid an industry expert might have a better idea on truth than a layperson such as you or I, or even a fact checker (with questionable motives). Science involves debate and discussion, it should never involve silencing opposing views.
Scientific journals reject papers all the time. If reviewers think a paper is bullshit, it gets rejected. Or at least, should be.
If misinformation is dangerous when peddled to idiots by parasites, no journal editor (let alone sysadmin of a political blog) is obliged to publish it.
Flooding a discussion with bullshit drowns out the actual debate.
"the podcast War Room: Pandemic, hosted by Steve Bannon, published this (removed link) video interview with molecular biologist Robert Malone, a former researcher at the Salk Institute."
Seems he's just mouthing off to keep his profile high, drunk on the attention. Plenty of 'experts' around like this idiot. All because someone's brilliant doesn't mean they're not compromised.
Another Trump fan judging by the company he keeps.
There is a lot to unpick here. But a lot is relevant to the situation in Aotearoa. Especially the disconnect between the ”working class,” and the Labour elite. If we’re not careful, ACT or a revitalised NZ1 or equivalent will fill the void.
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Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
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Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
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A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
Indeed, why?
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2021/the-whole-truth-covid-19-vaccine/#/1202664949/why-do-people-believe-covid-19-vaccination-myths
There’s no simple answer and no one size fits all, as usual.
I still spend way too much time shaking my damn head about how much covid and vaccine misinformation and disinformation appears here at The Standard. That misinformation and disinformation that appears here is broadly characterised by the points in the link:
A key point of context for any idea or piece of information about covid and vaccines against it is how transmissible the now dominant delta strain has become.
Delta may be as much as five times more transmissible than the original strain from 2019. That high transmissibility means almost everyone will be exposed to it sometime in the nearish future.
Those that don't have some kind of immunity, either from vaccination or prior exposure, will get infected and diseased to a greater or lesser severity. Even some of those with prior immunity will still get infected, but their partial protection means their illness will almost certainly be mild and short, as opposed to the severe and dangerous disease suffered by many of those without prior protection.
So the important context when considering any kind of risk or adverse reaction is: how does this vaccine risk compare to the same risk from the real live disease?
Almost all of the highly publicised risks of potential very low frequency problems from the vaccine happen at a much higher rate in those that get the actual disease. Blood clotting, myocarditis and pericarditis, etc are frequent problems arising from from covid infection, but are very rare following vaccination.
The sole exception as far as I know is the risk of anaphylaxis following the Pfizer vaccine. But this is a reaction to one of the ingredients in the 'delivery system', not a reaction to the mRNA that does the actual work of training our immune system to recognise and deal with the virus. Furthermore, provided the vaccinee follows the advice to stay at the vaccination site for the recommended 15 minutes or half hour, the medical staff on site will safely deal with any kind of anaphylactic reaction that occurs with no long term aftereffects. Scary to be sure, but as long as it's dealt with appropriately it isn't long-term harmful.
Delta may be as much as five times more transmissible than the original strain from 2019. That high transmissibility means almost everyone will be exposed to it sometime in the nearish future.
And when I suggested this possibility a year back – I was assured the vaccines would be the silver bullet to eradicating COVID. Well that's off the table now isn't it?
I've lost count of how many times the 'experts' you tout so aggressively here have had to shift their ground. Their politiced, fake certainty has let us down repeatedly – when in reality they were learning as all this unfolded just as the rest of us are.
But the point omitted above is that not only is Delta five times more transmissible – it's also become significantly dangerous as evidenced by the greater number of young people now falling seriously ill with it. This trajectory of greater transmissibility AND greater morbidity is in my mind an unusual signal – one that if it continues will be catastrophic.
All diseases follow a path of high morbidity and low transmission, or vice-versa. Any virus that burned through it's sole host species by becoming both highly transmissible and lethal, would die off itself and normally evolution ensures this doesn't happen. But SARS-COVID-2 may well be optimised to respond aggressively to selection pressure in ways we simply don't understand yet.
Personally I always said vaccines would be a valuable part of the toolkit – and I've had my first AZ shot last week. But that isn't reason to stop learning as this incredibly complex story unwinds.
First, who assured you that "the vaccines would be the silver bullet to eradicating COVID" ? Link please.
Second, someone who has made strong statements such as "First the Vitamin D debacle – now the Ivermectin denial. How much blood on their hands?" and "I realise the NZ left has good political reasons to want this COVID pandemic to go on indefinitely, but it's over:" really isn't in a position to make complaints about others touting treatments. Even if your complaints were accurate, which they’re not. Particularly since the evidence you cited for your claims about vitamin D and ivermectin have turned out to be total crap, whereas vaccines have turned out to be effective significantly above the hopes commonly talked about from March to December last year.
My position has always been that we should consider every possible tool – and there remains plenty of good evidence to support both Vitamin D, and Ivermectin as probably useful. On the other hand it's clear from the outset that you have taken narrow line that tells us that vaccines are the only solution. Well how did that turn out?
It seems to me that if Trump had one day idly mentioned that the sky was blue, you'd still be telling us this was fake news and all experts agreed it was actually pink with green polka dots.
Who assured you that "the vaccines would be the silver bullet to eradicating COVID" ? Links please or withdrawal.
You are outright lying in your statement "On the other hand it's clear from the outset that you have taken narrow line that tells us that vaccines are the only solution."
Here's a sample of my comments from last year on the possibilities of vaccines or treatments;
July 13 2020 "But a vaccine isn't the only option. Antiviral medications for treatment and/or prophylaxis are also possibilities that are being extensively worked on."
July 7 2020 "So if a vaccine and/or treatment and/or prophylaxis simply reduced the effects of COVID down to the level of being just like a bad flu, that would be enough for resumption of a lot of what is on hold right now."
4 December 2020 "Without a vaccine or effective treatment, risk from covid is higher than most of those. If the vaccine (or some hypothetical future treatment) reduces the risk from covid down to much smaller than any of those routine risks, then I'm happy to relax the fairly minimal restrictions we're still living with."
You still need to back your strong claims about ivermectin and vitamin D. Actual links to credible studies. Even better would be showing where ivermectin and/or vitamin D have actually been useful in combating covid. Both ivermectin and vitamin D were suggested as useful treatments early last year. Surely if they had any value, someone somewhere would have worked out an effective protocol for using them that stands up to scrutiny, given how desperate the need is. Where is it?
Yet right here in this thread you're taking the strong line that everyone MUST get vaccinated with no nuance whatsoever. Comments from a year ago don't seem to be factored into your position anymore.
This entire pandemic has been fumbled because it politicised and tribalised by people like you constantly touting a fake certainty – when it would have been a whole smarter to have acknowledged that no-one really understood this virus and that we needed to be open to all the possible tools we could bring to bear on it – without all the shouting down.
You haven't provided any links to back your assertions, and now you make yet more unsubstantiated assertions.
Where have I taken "the strong line that everyone MUST get vaccinated with no nuance whatsoever" ? Actual quote in context, please.
edit: When you find the quote you think you’re looking for, read it carefully. You’ll probably find it’s you that missed the nuance.
The mutation rate of Covid-19 virus is low, but it so widespread that it is completely natural that we see variants developing. Currently, there are about 16 million known active cases (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/) and each of these carry zillions viruses – the average viral load in throat swabs was about 2.5 million copies of the genome (https://www.genengnews.com/news/large-study-of-sars-cov-2-viral-loads-yields-insights-into-infectiousness/). Mutation is part of the natural evolution process, not just for viruses, BTW.
And when the Lambda variant arrives …..
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/08/coronavirus-lambda-variant-of-covid-19-a-threat-to-humanity-scientists-say.html
Exactly. The so called experts have constantly assured us this was just another zoonotic virus. Well so far they've not only failed to prove their case – but in preventing us from thinking about it's probable origin from a GoF lab escape – they've totally failed to think about what it's optimised to do in evolutionary terms and how it could react to selection pressure like lockdowns and vaccines.
Not that these public health tools are not useful, but that we've gone about applying them very unintelligently. In the last quarter of 2020 we had a window of opportunity to globally eradicate COVID with a highly co-ordinated campaign that might have lasted six weeks or so. Well that ship has sailed.
"Lab leak", "Invermectin", "Vitamin D", "bleach", "the pandemic is over", "it's the fault of the Left".
The link @ 1 describes you perfectly.
I do find it very droll to watch card carrying, hyper virtuous lefties like yourself jackbooting around social media as shills and enforcers for big pharma.
On this one I'll go with big pharma over the local vet.
So, basically, we end up getting an annual jab tailored for the most likely variants established mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.
Yeah.
While there's been lots of talk about booster third jabs, I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen talk of a booster with a modified recipe tailored for better efficacy against Delta.
It's really unfortunate the pop up clip when you enter the page treats listeners like pre-schoolers. I was over it in seconds.
FLICC, as Andre highlights, is of great interest to me. They've nailed the techniques/misunderstandings people use. Like my recent 'conversation' (lecture from man standing over and jabbing finger at me) regarding climate/electrification had:
False expert (electrician), logical fallacies (not enough lithium), impossible expectations (100% renewables now!), cherry picking (one ZB talking point to rule them all). Only the conspiracy theories were missing but I'm sure if I gave it a minute he would be full of them.
I strongly suspect P is fuelling a significant portion of vaccine paranoia (anti-government (actually scared of being caught)) of many who are also attracted to conspiratorial nonsense as the substance fries the brain and leads to delusional thinking.
How closely our P epidemic correlates to our conspiracy uptake is unknown. It wouldn't take too much digging to see if there's a correlation between meth and this particular brand of madness. Meth has always been a popular hillbilly drug. Anti-social by nature, cliques of users form and anti-govt/authority nonsense is reinforced by the group.
Hope I wasn't too off topic there.
Social media and increasingly mainstream media are the new ‘alcohol’, not P.
Not sure I understand your reply very well, but I do appreciate that social media is far more responsible for the viral spread of nonsense than the cliques of hard drug users we have in every town.
I've found a pattern that might not be true outside of my friends group – which spans several decades and ranges from homeless to rich and famous. The P users seem to be riddled with anti-vax mentality and tropes.
Socially acceptable & perfectly legal (18+), easily accessible and omni-present, mind-altering & reality-twisting, conditioning & addictive, et cetera.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018806353/dr-pan-conrad-when-science-meets-religion
I might have to sacrifice 35 minutes of my life and listen to this interview with a most intriguing person. In the weekend.
It's a very good listen, Incognito.
There is no need to argue with anti-vaccers……you just have to wait….
Reverse might be just as true (follow up tweet says, “If this holds true and is verified, this is looking more and more like ADE”)
https://twitter.com/RWMaloneMD/status/1423332834282979329
https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-effectively-prevent-severe-disease-havent-shown-signs-of-antibody-dependent-enhancement-as-claimed-by-robert-malone/
Isn't it time this stuff being promulgated by commenter KSaysHi is removed from this site? It does not fall into the category of valid alternate viewpoints, but is a series of 'untruths' being presented as 'truths'.
He/she clearly never reads the peer reviewed scientific material presented in response. I'm beginning to suspect they are a somewhat screwed up troll.
Anne the comment in question involves an industry vaccine expert. I'm afraid an industry expert might have a better idea on truth than a layperson such as you or I, or even a fact checker (with questionable motives). Science involves debate and discussion, it should never involve silencing opposing views.
Scientific journals reject papers all the time. If reviewers think a paper is bullshit, it gets rejected. Or at least, should be.
If misinformation is dangerous when peddled to idiots by parasites, no journal editor (let alone sysadmin of a political blog) is obliged to publish it.
Flooding a discussion with bullshit drowns out the actual debate.
Well, who's the 'expert' in bed with?
"the podcast War Room: Pandemic, hosted by Steve Bannon, published this (removed link) video interview with molecular biologist Robert Malone, a former researcher at the Salk Institute."
Seems he's just mouthing off to keep his profile high, drunk on the attention. Plenty of 'experts' around like this idiot. All because someone's brilliant doesn't mean they're not compromised.
Another Trump fan judging by the company he keeps.
I love it so much I decided not to moderate you for this one
Feel free to counter the fact checker on their counter-arguments, if you can, which I sincerely doubt.
A moderator probably should have been more occupied with the link dropper further up, with no attached comment or opinion.
As your friend I’ll give you some advice: don’t tell those Moderators what to do, because some don’t have your sense of humour
But, but, the Barbie doll said!
Barbie indeed. You know you've made it when…
I kinda like it despite that it's a lame PR attempt by Barebie (TM) to pretend it's not all about getting a ken and a malibu beach house.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/05/around-the-world-the-disadvantaged-have-been-left-behind-by-politicians-of-all-hues
There is a lot to unpick here. But a lot is relevant to the situation in Aotearoa. Especially the disconnect between the ”working class,” and the Labour elite. If we’re not careful, ACT or a revitalised NZ1 or equivalent will fill the void.
Another <40k jab day yesterday.
Also a fair bit of stock being built up.