Come on NZ! We cannot support this. Glenn Greenwald hold the mirror up to the USA to expose its shameful support of Israel’s despicable behaviour.
Worst of all is that U.S. political orthodoxy has not only funded, fueled, and protected this apartheid state, but has attempted to render illegitimate all forms of resistance to it. Just as it did with the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela, the U.S. denounces as “terrorism” all groups and individuals that use force against Israel’s occupying armies. It has formally maligned non-violent programs against the occupation — such as the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement — as bigotry and anti-Semitism (a position Clinton has advocated with particular vehemence), and that boycott movement has been increasingly targeted throughout the West with censorship and even criminalization. Under U.S. political orthodoxy, the only acceptable course for Palestinians and supporters of their right to be free of occupation is complete submission.
But the State Department denunciation yesterday was actually notable for what amounts to its stark and explicit acknowledgement — long overdue — that Israel is clearly and irreversibly committed to ruling over the Palestinians in perpetuity, becoming the exact “apartheid” state about which Barak warned:
Israel doesn’t want to rule over Palestinians – they want to eliminate them. What Israel is engaging in is genocide – pure and simple.
A few days ago, and after the “accidental” US bombing of a Syrian army unit, Russian and Iranian media reported that a covert ‘Intelligence Operations Room’ run by the US in Aleppo province and staffed by around 30 military officers from the US and key US allies, had been targeted and destroyed by Russian sea launched cruise missiles. All foreign officers were reported killed and the facility destroyed.
To me this explains US Army Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley making a speech 2 days ago saying that the US was being challenged in an unprecedented way in decades but was ready to destroy its enemies anywhere, any time.
You could choose to look at National’s decision to pass legislation for an ocean sanctuary in isolation, without looking at the history of the Treaty settlement or even the record of discussions on the Kermadecs over the last year or two, but if you did that you wouldn’t really be able to fully understand the dynamics of what was happening and why, would you.
The theory is that this Operations Room was involved in co-ordinating the air strike on the Syrian Government Army position which resulted in the deaths of 83 government troops.
So it was pay back for that. 30 western specialists and officers lives exchanged for the lives of 83 Syrian Army grunts and officers.
so payback and that makes it somehow the US ratshitting it up? Your logic doesn’t make sense.
Oh and trying to misuse indigenous rights (Kermadec), in the same way you misuse women’s rights, to help you score petty points is, well, sorta, pathetic and petty. We don’t need the fake tears from a snake – so please just don’t bother.
Someone who supports a misogynist racist like Trump, and then pretends to care about indigenous rights, or women’s rights, or human rights for that matter, is contemptible IMO.
It might help if you could think independently for a moment.
False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Intensely engrossing … A damning portrait of both Clinton and American politics.” – Publisher’s Weekly
Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most powerful women in world politics, and the irrational right-wing hatred of Clinton has fed her progressive appeal, helping turn her into a feminist icon. To get a woman in the White House, it’s thought, would be an achievement for all women everywhere, a kind of trickle-down feminism.
In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the mantle of feminist elect has descended on Hillary Clinton, as a thousand viral memes applaud her, and most mainstream feminist leaders, thinkers, and organizations endorse her. In this atmosphere, dissent seems tantamount to political betrayal.
In False Choices, an all-star lineup of feminists contests this simplistic reading of the candidate. A detailed look at Hillary Clinton’s track record on welfare, Wall Street, criminal justice, education, and war reveals that she has advanced laws and policies that have done real harm to the lives of women and children across the country and the globe. This well-researched collection of essays restores to feminism its revolutionary meaning, and outlines how it could transform the United States and its relation to the world.
“It might help if you could think independently for a moment”.
Unable to deny that Trump is a racist misogynist you decide to insult me instead. Did I say Hillary Clinton was a feminist? Did I say anything at all about Clinton? No.
Just for the record I read very widely and I assess many sources before I come to any opinion about any issue, and I am always ready to have my ideas challenged by people whose opinion I value. My judgement on whose opinions are worth valuing depends on their knowledge of a topic and is tempered by their attitudes to human rights, racism, etc.
Unable to deny that Trump is a racist misogynist you decide to insult me instead.
Why the should I bother trying to deny bullshit liberal lefty propaganda memes?
Instead, I am carefully pointing out how much worse and studied a misogynist Hillary Clinton is, which includes her personal enabling of predatory sexual behaviour, and how much worse a liar she is, as per her record in public office.
CV: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym/email that doesn’t clash.
marty: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym that doesn’t clash.
If you don’t know your password, tell me and I’ll send through a password reset when I’m cleaning up the login system this weekend.
Yep I can’t remember my password – so either an email or reset would be good. Does that mean I have to log in each session – I haven’t in the past but if that is what it takes I’ll gladly do it – spose I could add a cool gravitar too.
Ok. I’ll send a reset this evening. I want to check the email works.
It will be pretty much the same as usual. The browsers will remember the logged in details. You just have to remember the login/password occasionally when the browser forgets (upgrades etc).
In the meantime, I’m turning off the security check.
it isn’t matching it is escalation and it is pretty obvious. Hell for a fanatic internet general you don’t seem to understand the basics – maybe all your years of living over in Russia has coloured your thinking – oh that’s right you get your facts off the net…
it isn’t matching it is escalation and it is pretty obvious.
It could also be considered a warning rather than a ratcheting up.
The US has been doing shit and getting away with it for far too long and usually at the expense of Russia and other nations. This could be a very physical we’re not going to take this shit from you any more on the Russians part.
The next step is in the US’ hands. Whether they continue acting like a childish bully or if they start acting like an mature adult.
And, no, I don’t think that the US killing those Syrians was a mistake and I’m pretty sure that the Russians don’t think so either.
I am sure you have seen this.
Just wish others would watch it and listen carefully.
John Pilger – A World War Has Begun: Break The Silence
In the last eighteen months, the greatest build-up of military forces since World War Two — led by the United States — is taking place along Russia’s western frontier. Not since Hitler invaded the Soviet Union have foreign troops presented such a demonstrable threat to Russia.
Ukraine – once part of the Soviet Union – has become a CIA theme park. Having orchestrated a coup in Kiev, Washington effectively controls a regime that is next door and hostile to Russia: a regime rotten with Nazis, literally. Prominent parliamentary figures in Ukraine are the political descendants of the notorious OUN and UPA fascists. They openly praise Hitler and call for the persecution and expulsion of the Russian speaking minority.
This is seldom news in the West, or it is inverted to suppress the truth.
In Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — next door to Russia – the US military is deploying combat troops, tanks, heavy weapons. This extreme provocation of the world’s second nuclear power is met with silence in the West.
Also worth remembering the Russian approach in these matters – they talk small and they act big. They try to only minimally telegraph their plans. Stylistically, this tends to be the diametric opposite of the US approach.
If war does” officially” break out no guesses whose side we will be on with Key in the beehive.
Why is this military build up happening without official comment and has not been raised so far in the presidential campaign ?
The usual ‘talk tough’ routine from a US Military leader.
Fine and dandy till they have to fight on foreign soil and the body bags start arriving back home. US soldiers are not know for their morale once the going gets tough.
Fighting Russian forces will be quite a bit different to fighting Iraqi conscripts who would rather be someplace else.
Thanks, Paul, Are we sure this boneheaded cretinous bloody dangerous prat is for real? or is it a new modern version of the TV programme Rowan & Martins Laughin with General Bull Right
That is one of the problems today, we don’t have the satire that shows up these dickheads for what they are.
“I trust Pilger though”
+100
Thanks Paul i always make time to listen to Mr Pilger and it would be great to have his analysis here on a regular basis as he no longer welcome on MSM.
MSM and our government prefer the silence and keeping the idiots entertained.
Aaron Smith sex scandal: ‘A huge mistake’ – All Black speaks
Bullies ‘set fire’ to autistic boy
Thunderstruck: ‘Household was shaking’
Dick Smith CEO has his day in court
Is this Steven Adams’ biggest fan?
Luxury air travel fares drop by 40%
Revealed: NZ’s cheapest supermarket
Shortland Street shock as Rachel leaves
Business Class punch-up onboard flight
$1200 for pizza order that never arrived
The Cold War is simmering and we still get fed pap.
@Paul on the same topic Morning Report was dross this morning.
In an hour from 6.30 it was mostly very very long weather forecasts, TWO stories on the UN secretary-general job (this has been done to death-the classic being Susie Ferguson’s questioning who will be appointed deputy to the s-g; Quiz question: name the current, or any, deputy s-g) followed by (yes you guessed) Aaron Smith’s knee trembler, though to be fair Guyon’s interview with the reporter in South Africa was good, especially when the reporter said Smith’s mistake was to have his AB’s kit on to which Guyon said “well some of the time” and the reporter’s comment (paraphrasing here) that “he was amazed the NZ PM had got involved. In South Africa this would never happen as there are far more important issues for the PM to deal with.” Precisely.
Who on earth is editing Morning Report these days?
@ Paul (2.3) WHAT!!!! Nothing about that shallow, still in shock Kardashian woman. NZH’s standards are indeed slipping! (sarc)
Seriously though, I agree with you. The pathetic un-newsworthy rubbish msm is dishing up as news, has National’s chief of misinformation Joyce’s foul stamp all over it, directing what Kiwis shall or shall not be told.
To keep the people informed on the important issues, might open up some thought and discussion, giving rise to some serious questions being asked.
Aaron Smith sex scandal: ‘A huge mistake’ – sex, role models, social norms, toxic masculinity
Bullies ‘set fire’ to autistic boy – othering, dehumanising, violence
Thunderstruck: ‘Household was shaking’ – climate change, community
Dick Smith CEO has his day in court – potential corporate notgoodthings
Is this Steven Adams’ biggest fan? – heroes, role models
Luxury air travel fares drop by 40% – the 1%ers
Revealed: NZ’s cheapest supermarket – the bottom 50%ers
Shortland Street shock as Rachel leaves – issues raise3d about her on screen addictions/manipulated
Business Class punch-up onboard flight – violence, 0,1%ers
$1200 for pizza order that never arrived – food, nutrition, service
So Paul each and every one of those stories can be illuminating to the current issues facing humankind in 2016.
It is like when my 8year old says, “It’s boring” umm no ‘it’ isn’t.
You have to search out the flakes of gold, it takes work – stop moaning and do some work paul.
I’m mildly relieved that the kid being set alight looks to be accident resulting from kids playing with fire rather than malice. Doesn’t change much overall, poor lad is still in a bad way and South Sudan still looks sucky, but I register enough shit in the world already.
A few days ago, and after the “accidental” US bombing of a Syrian army unit, Russian and Iranian media reported that a covert ‘Intelligence Operations Room’ run by the US in Aleppo province and staffed by around 30 military officers from the US and key US allies, had been targeted and destroyed by Russian sea launched cruise missiles.
Things reported by “Russian media” mean “things the Russian government would like reported.” Can you think of a reason why the Russian government might want to release a story for domestic consumption about how they paid back the Americans hard for that friendly fire incident against a Russian client? Because I can. For consumption outside Russia and Iran, they’d need some evidence that this actually happened, which is why it’s not news outside those countries.
9/11 was the first big lie.
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was the second and it looks like Syria is the third.
And the gullible still believe what the repeaters and the sockpuppets tell them. We are on the brink of WW3 thanks to this ubnquestioning acceptance of the media.
By the way, ad hominems do not an argument make. You do not end a debate by saying the words ‘truthers.’ or ‘conspiracy theory.’
I spend very little time or energy thinking about 911 these days. For a few months immediately afterwards I was intensely curious, but quickly realised that as a very ordinary person on the other side of the planet I had no way to properly verify any information … official or otherwise.
The ‘truthers’ probably made a mistake to have spent so much energy on the building collapses. While they were the dramatic, visible and deeply intriguing aspect of what happened that day, it was the astounding myriad of other details, coincidences, inconsistencies on the fringes of these events which left the biggest impression on me.
No single one of them amounted to a smoking gun. Many could have just been an artifact of confirmation bias, but the sheer mass of them could not be so easily dismissed. The internet has accumulated an extraordinary volume of speculation on 911, probably much of it misguided, near-misses or downright absurd. But that does not mean ALL of it is wrong. Even if just 1% of it is correct we still have a problem.
In the end it comes down to credibility, “who ya gunna believe?” Well you cannot get around the established fact that official 911 narrative was written by the same people who told us Iraq had WMD’s it was about to unleash on the world. On that basis alone you have to understand these people are capable of the big, deliberate and conscious lie. The truthers have failed to land a critical blow, the establishment loses more and more credibility with every passing year. Both have hidden agendas, both twist and distort to suit their purposes. After all these years, all these wasted pixels, certainty eludes us.
It is my guess that only a very small number of people know exactly what happened that day; probably fewer than 30. And they are all very good at keeping secrets.
The main thing is understanding that the official narrative of the events of 9/11 cannot be correct.
From passengers making cell phone calls at 30,000 to 40,000 feet in the air, to the 110 tonne mass of Flight UA93 ‘vapourising’ into a small burnt hole in Shanksville paddock (but the flight recorders found intact) to the NIST modelling and explanation for the collapse of WTC7 now being definitively refuted.
However, as to what actually happened on that day I agree with you that only a few dozen people at most would know.
I am reminded of all the crazy theories in the years after the President Kennedy assassination. All of them ultimately debunked.
I suspect something similar will happen over 9/11.
The film clip of the 9/11 tragedy which made quite an impression on me at the time was the moment George W Bush was informed of what happened. He was sitting in a classroom reading to the children and – while he showed no facial emotion – I could see the shock in his eyes. He got up and quietly left the room.
I have no doubt mistakes were made and actions taken that the “authorities” wouldn’t want the masses to know about (there always is) but a US conspiracy of lies as promoted by the 9/11 conspiracy theorists? No way. Those hijackers were al qaeda trained terrorist operatives and they were there to commit the gravest possible damage possible on behalf of Osama bin Laden and co.
In the end it comes down to credibility, “who ya gunna believe?” Well you cannot get around the established fact that official 911 narrative was written by the same people who told us Iraq had WMD’s it was about to unleash on the world.
And that is a very good example. The WMD claim was a big, deliberate lie involving only a few intelligence operatives, and it fell to bits in pretty short order. As you say, it comes down to credibility, and a big, deliberate lie involving huge numbers of people and far greater complexity than the WMD scam, but that has held solid for 15 years and counting, just isn’t credible.
I thought about point that when I was writing it. My response is that the two matters are not equivalent or directly comparable.
It was my sense that ultimately if there was a secret operation around 911, it actually did not need to involve very many people at all. And it was all over in a matter of hours.
By contrast invading Iraq involved whole armies from many countries, over many years. Of course that lie was unsustainable. (And even then it took years before it was officially acknowledged as such.)
CV – the calls were not made from cellphones. They were made from the phones already on the plane.
From the onboard Airphones you mean?
You need to recheck your facts. In the official narrative, although those Airphones were also used, at least two of the calls were made from passenger cell phones.
It was my sense that ultimately if there was a secret operation around 911, it actually did not need to involve very many people at all. And it was all over in a matter of hours.
Thing is, what kind of a secret operation? The one that Paul et al favour, that it was actually a false flag operation by the US government, is so laughable that once you know someone gives it credence, you write them off as completely lacking judgement. Lesser versions, such as that they US government knew it was planned but allowed it to happen, still have a huge credibility hurdle in that it requires all of the people involved to have no conscience and to have never mentioned it to someone who does. That’s common among the people running totalitarian regimes, but isn’t in democratic ones, and even in totalitarian regimes it usually gets out eventually. There is no credible theory of a secret operation yet presented.
Using the power of geometry again, in a right-angled triangle where the height of the aircraft is 6 and the length of the hypoteneuse (distance between the plane and the cell tower) is 20, then the ground distance from the cell tower is roughly 18.
So to make a cell call from 30,000ft a cell tower needs to be within an 18 mile ground radius for the minimum call duration. Aluminium airframe might lower that, but no terrain interference would compensate the other direction. I lazily wonder whether clouds or humidity might be an issue either way.
So anyway, yeah it’s possible to make a cell call from an airplane.
So anyway, yeah it’s possible to make a cell call from an airplane.
Firstly, how does the range of those towers change once you take into account that cell phone towers have the maximum sensitivity of their TX/RX antennae configured for terrestrial (ground or near ground) mobile phone users?
Secondly, are there any other examples (other than 9/11) where passengers in the late 90’s / early 00’s successfully used their mobile phones from planes over 30,000 feet?
By the year ~2000 virtually every business professional on a commercial plane would have had a mobile phone.
In fact, the main problem with their signal on the cell network seems to be that they tie up too many cell towers at the same time, rather than having difficulty just reaching one.
Well yeah, the version released in the English services isn’t for domestic consumption – it’s for the gullible dupes in the English-speaking world who imagine they’re consuming something other than government propaganda via those services.
There are of course people in the Pentagon who know the truth or lack of it in the story, but I don’t think they’re going to join the thread to confirm or deny it.
McFlock: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym that doesn’t clash.
If you don’t know your password, I’ll push a password reset through over the weekend (I’m cleaning up unused logins and fixing the login system then)
Dunno, but they’re all dead now according to Iranian and Russian news services, and the intelligence operations facility that they were working out of destroyed.
Some inmates were so badly injured in the fighting they were hospitalised, for injuries ranging from brain damage to broken limbs.
In some cases staff present in a unit were observed from CCTV footage failing to undertake an active role in supervising prisoners – for instance staff were observed playing pool or table tennis.
Prisoners who refused to participate were threatened or “pack attacked” by gang members.
Despite some incidents meeting the threshold for serious assault, Serco reported them to Corrections as “accidents”, or not at all, the report said.
Serco paid $8 million to cover the costs of Corrections stepping in and for failing to reach performance targets. It also missed out on performance bonuses worth $3.1m.
The Government could not rule out rehiring Serco to run the Mt Eden jail again in future.
Government shrugging this off as nothing to do with them. It’s all Corrections’ and Serco’s fault apparently and the private model (reducing costs and raising risks for profit) which they forced upon the sector is and always was the way to go.
The fact that the Government could not rule out rehiring Serco (despite it’s poor performance) raises questions if it goes beyond being merely an ideological belief.
Prime Minister John Key admitted in hindsight Serco was “the wrong choice” to run Mt Eden, but won’t cancel the Wiri contract over fears of legal action.
No. I was referring to the assertion the Government could not rule out rehiring Serco to run the Mt Eden jail again. Made in the link I provided above.
As for the Government fearing legal action, it brings into question the quality of the contract and the competence of the Government to safeguard the public interest.
Government shrugging this off as nothing to do with them.
The ability to do this is a major, if never-mentioned, benefit of privatising prisons – from the government’s perspective, at least. Not so much for the rest of us.
That’s what I love about National’s attitude to private prisons. It borders on a religious belief. Serco ran Mt Eden like a man with no legs runs the New York marathon. They woefully understaffed the prison (presumably a cost-cutting measure), lacked all supervision of both inmates and officers (whose attitude to their roles appeared to be “I’m just chillin’ with my homies, yo!”), failed to adequately monitor the deteriorating situation and then lied about it all in an attempt to evade responsibility.
And National’s response is basically, “Yes, we acknowledge that this all looks distinctly shonky and we’ve rapped Serco across the knuckles accordingly. In other news, we’ll probably award them another multi-million dollar contract sometime in the near future despite their track record of incompetence, negligence and a complete disregard for the job they’re being paid millions of tax-payer dollars to perform. It could be worse, after all. They could be having sex in a public toilet. Tsk tsk, Aaron Smith. Shame on you.”
After reports of the culture of corruption within the Auckland City Council being described as normalised, one begins to wonder what’s going on in central government.
“Does anybody know if the inmates that were forced to partake have been compensated?”
Yes, you will be happy to hear that the Head Hunters have offered the inmate’s they forced to participate in the Mt Eden fight club $10k each or to the same value in meth. 🙂
The Herald (yes I know highly dubious) reader poll today has Crone 34 Goff 33 Swarbrick 17
Some interesting numbers there! Really shows who reads the Herald-Goff should walk it on these numbers given the characteristics of the response group…..but….but…. Swarbrick is really eating into Goff’s vote with an amazing 17%
Here’s a survey showing that among voters saying they will definitely vote, Goff is attracting 50 per cent of all Labour voters and 35 per cent of Greens. But he is also picking up 24 per cent of National Party voters and 25 per cent of NZ First voters.
Goff is a complete waste of space IMIO . As minister of justice he failed to exercise his responsibility to see justice done in the case of Peter Ellis.
Dont expect anything more than favors for business friends from him.
@savenz…..agreed abysmal turnout will certainly help Crone. How hard is it to post a letter?
The real scandal is that (anecdotally) many potential voters are not even registered, so the one third that vote are much less than that in reality. The Labour/Green bloc should be working right now to increase registration for the election next year.
Toby Manhire being serious about Child Poverty versus Key inaction.
“As has been noted repeatedly this week, it’s more than a little galling that a bold target can be set to rid New Zealand of predators but not to rid New Zealand of child poverty, although it’s important to note that no one is suggesting such eradications should following the same prescriptions.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11723866
“although it’s important to note that no one is suggesting such eradications should following the same prescriptions.”
Pity, because it’s about time that people in power stood up and named NACT as the predators that they are. I would say a similar prescription would work. We can’t eradicate pests, but we can learn how to control them and keep them in their place so they don’t fuck with the wider ecosystem.
Clearly Toby Manhire has mistaken the “ashprashnull” for “aspirational”. An ashprashnull person makes promises while an aspirational person tries to fulfil them.
If the couples kid needed the toilet why didn’t one parent take the kid to another toilet and the other parent go find security/management but instead they waited 10 minutes filing the incident
If no laws were broken then whose business is it anyway but If a law was broken then charge Aaron Smith and the women involved
Why does Aaron Smith have to be paraded on TV and beg forgiveness as if he’s done something terrible
Having said all that…if you’re a public figure then its best not to do anything dodgy in public
Population Impacts from #Matthew [NWS forecasts]Tropical Storm Gusts: 17.6MHurricane Force Wind Gusts: 6MMajor Hurricane Force: 1.5M pic.twitter.com/I0YmwYUZdL— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) October 6, 2016
Hurricane Center has monopoly on data. No way of verifying claims. Nassau ground observations DID NOT match statements! 165mph gusts? WHERE?— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 6, 2016
The deplorables are starting to wonder if govt has been lying to them about Hurricane Matthew intensity to make exaggerated point on climate— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 6, 2016
You know, Pucky – Doogs is doing for the Left what you do for the right – mocking and eroding your confidence, over-playing any perceived advantage and aiming to discourage adherents (in this case, you and your mob).
I’m amazed you didn’t recognise it!
Well I tend to post something to back up what I say, polls, articles that kind of thing, people may not believe it but at least I try to base it on something
This is really close to the “I sense the tide is going out on National because I spoke to someone” kind of thing with nothing to back it up with
He’s a spambot dick pic ……. a dick pic stalking a site …. a troll
In earlier days he would have been that heavy breather on the phone ….
What he most certainly is not is a person who walks into a meeting or party and walks around offending and insulting everybody …….. in real life that would have consequences
Interesting that an overt right winger supports Leggett.
Like all those Tories in the UK supporting Owen Smith and all those large corporates supporting Clinton.
Muttonbird – yes got link from kiwiblog. Then read it and found it interesting. This posted in here – you know a blog that discusses politics.
Paul – you will see there was no commentary from me other than it was an interesting read.
How you take that as repeating farrar I don’t know.
All I can guess is that the two of you are so pathetic that you actually have no reasonable comment and just have to follow post of people who disagree with you and make unfounded and bullshit (Paul looking at you) comments.
So I’m guessing hat makes you guys the trolls – and second rate ones at that.
I will type this slowly for you. I clicked on the link from kiwiblog and then after reading the article copied the link and pasted here.
That’s not repeating dpf it’s using a little thing call hyperlinks. They are all over the internet.
And congrats yes this is a left wing blog. Well done. I’m sorry comrade I missed the bit where everything written has to be be left good – right bad and no other discussion is allowed or must be called lies or trolling.
If you ever posted anything ‘leftgood’ you might get a different reaction – but you only come here to exhibit your biases. You have no content and you don’t engage. That’s trolling.
And Minister Parata was speaking to the U Learn Conference of teachers in Rotorua yesterday.
Actually everything that she said was true to my ears, though I thought that most schools had been innovating already.
“Going forward, some of the key themes that will characterise New Zealand’s future education system are:
-every student can be in the driving seat of their own learning through digital technologies, with support from highly skilled teachers who help them chart a course to achieve their goals for the future;
-the collapse of traditional institutional boundaries with students able to learn from a range of settings, both physical and virtual;
-learning in collaboration with their peers and others, face-to-face and virtually;”…
In depo for Trump Plaza bankruptcy case, Trump's own lawyer testifies they often met with him in pairs because Trump lies so much. pic.twitter.com/TdEkdf4ZiB— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 6, 2016
Brief video compiling the lies Hillary Clinton has told to the public:
– Claiming that ISIS uses videos of Donald Trump to recruit new members
– Lies she told to the victims families of the Benghazi embassy attacks
– Claiming that she arrived in Bosnia under sniper fire
– Pretending that she has always been against NAFTA
– etc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMpqImAjel4
25! in one speech! WTF I wonder how don monetizes that shit – he’s sitting 0.1% 5ppm like scrooge mcfuckenduck! I bet all his advisers are working hard on that one – how do we get the money, come on think, THINK!
Listening to Trump speak at NH town hall mtg. Says polls show him leading in Colorado. Actually, Clinton 11% lead: https://t.co/XRBzSp1p7H— Stuart Bonar (@StuartBonar) October 7, 2016
edit: patsy questions, huh
Trump taking a question from his vets adviser — Al Baldasaro — who called once for killing Clinton by firing quad— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) October 7, 2016
That video tries to argue that free trade, off shoring production and having goods manufactured in China have CREATED more US jobs than it has destroyed.
Do you really believe that?
And if you really believe that, why do you think Trump has picked up so many voters from blue collar families and from counties who have been directly affected by high levels of unemployment?
'The only day when Trump didn't lie: September 23rd, when he didn't say anything in public at all.' https://t.co/ZAVDB4DmUo— LA Uber Gal (@LAUberGal) September 26, 2016
You need to be a bit more discerning about your sources.
Has Al-Jazeera lost its journalistic independence?
That’s the charge made by some prominent staffers who quit their jobs at the Arab TV network. They claim Al-Jazeera is now beholden to a political agenda dictated by the man who bankrolls the operation, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar.
yep and fanatics on both – I always get very wary of those who profess to know, from the other side of the world, what is going on in such a messed up, complex and confusing situation. The squeaky door technique does not mean they know more.
There is one side that is most certainly wrong and that is Turkey allowing a flow of arms, men and materiel to resupply the Islamists with in an illegal effort to take down Assad, and NATO/US at the very least implicitly approving of that.
I’m wary, nay skeptical, of anything you say – as I’ve said to you before your ability to discern is gone, your ability to consider is gone – all that is left is gone, you are a puppet saying set lines to spin a story – probably a fanatic by most of the inaccurate and frankly embarrassing spin you seem to love to tell us all, along with slogans NKorea would be proud of.
Well, if you can’t judge for yourself the last several years role played by Erdogan and Turkey in Syria, you probably shouldn’t be criticising my abilities of discernment.
What’s the “hegemonic agenda” that Russia has for Syria?
What’s the “hegemonic agenda” that the US has for Syria?
BTW the Qatari want control of Syria to go to a friendly government willing to deny Syrian territory to Gazprom, and instead put Qatari pipelines through to Europe.
Russia’s hegemonic agenda includes permanent ground force basing and a Mediterraean naval base. It also includes dumping shit on everything the US does or attempts, whether or not it might be constructive.
You believe yourself remarkably well-informed about Qatari ambitions. Now, get a map and draw a line consistent with this pipeline you envisage. If such a pipeline is planned rest assured Qatar is a pretty minor player compared to others on its route.
And do explain why Gazprom is entitled to veto a Qatari pipeline anyway.
No problem with Syrian bases for Russia – if you ascribe the same predatory hegemonic agenda to them that we do to US base expansion.
So Gazprom isn’t really part of the equation – you brought them up – they are irrelevant. Qatar is entitled to support or press for a pipeline – though not by force of arms.
There is rather a lot of force of arms in Syria atm. Everywhere that Russia goes armed force, not public assent, is seen to triumph. This is not democracy. Putin rigging his first election was not democracy. Putin having Politkovskaya and Nemtsov killed and revising the Russian constitution to become effectively president for life is not democracy.
And Assad’s lifelong ‘presidential’ misrule of Syria is not democracy. Democracies do not barrel bomb their citizens – only despots do that.
A doco on the indiscriminate Russian bombing in Aleppo, Syria. Just awful.
Important to remember that over 3/4 of Aleppo is under government or YPG control now.
Unfortunately in the remaining area several thousand Jihadist/ISIS fighters have created a whole tunnel/bunker network around, under and through many civilian buildings.
Eliminating these entrenched forces will be tough, deadly work and yes despite safe evacuation corridors created earlier in the year for civilians, there will be many civilian deaths.
It’s kind of funny how much your comments these days read like US spokesthings’ announcements from its more unsavoury wars. I used to read shit like the comment above all the time when I was working for the US Army during the Iraq War – it’s as stomach-turning coming from you as it was from them.
Syrian Government forces with Russian air support will be doing exactly the same thing in South West Aleppo as US/Iraqi forces have done to cities like Mosul/Fallujah/Ramadi with US air support.
Even in 2003, the US military wasn’t bombing cities by unloading barrels full of explosive out of the back of a helicopter, and generally managed to avoid hospitals. The indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets you’re promoting as reasonable are actually worse, by a long way, than the activities of the US military in Iraq that you constantly treat as a benchmark of western criminality. And orders of magnitude worse than the drone strikes you get so irate about.
But barrel bombs delivered by helicopter are just another BS western propaganda trope. Firstly if they existed they are nothing more than low yield IEDs.
Secondly helicopters are highly vulnerableto small arms fire and are thus a useless delivery platform for these weapons.
Stop pretending you know what you’re talking about. They can be equivalent in size to the largest regularly used conventional bombs (2,000 pounds), and the “yield” in this context is meaningless (I suspect you came across the term in arguments about nukes, and didn’t realise that the explosive power of a nuke has more to do with its construction than its net weight in explosive material).
Secondly, yes helicopters are vulnerable. that’s why there’s footage of them dropping barrel-shaped objects that seem to be associated with large explosions where they land, and helicopters being shot down. Someone who avidly seeks online videos like you do will have seen it. It’s a pretty simple youtube search. Similarly wikipedia has a page devoted to them and another to their use in Syria, both with source links.
They can be equivalent in size to the largest regularly used conventional bombs (2,000 pounds), and the “yield” in this context is meaningless
Why is “yield” in this context meaningless? You yourself have noted that conventional warheads and bombs are measured by “yield”.
and didn’t realise that the explosive power of a nuke has more to do with its construction than its net weight in explosive material).
Huh? Nukes?
Secondly, yes helicopters are vulnerable. that’s why there’s footage of them dropping barrel-shaped objects that seem to be associated with large explosions where they land, and helicopters being shot down.
But so what? The Syrian airforce has a very limited number of helicopters and each of these helicopters would only be able to carry a bomb load of a few of these barrels.
With a high risk of getting shot down.
Totally combat ineffective weapon, and hence a silly propaganda trope used by the west.
BTW when you see photos and video of places like Homs totally levelled to the ground, that was done by artillery, not by primitive ineffective improvised “barrel bombs” whatever the hell they are.
Well, obviously it must be sensible to them because there’s so much film of them actually doing it.
Cheap substitute for jet bombs, and more accurate. So a few older choppers and younger pilots get zotzed. Plenty more aid from Putin when that becomes and issue.
You yourself have noted that conventional warheads and bombs are measured by “yield”.
But barrel bombs delivered by helicopter are just another BS western propaganda trope.
The eye-witness accounts, the video footage, the unexploded barrel bombs… no expense spared on those BS western propaganda tropes, huh?
Secondly helicopters are highly vulnerable to small arms fire and are thus a useless delivery platform for these weapons.
It’s funny how often you dismiss things that actually happened with some made-up bullshit about how something like that couldn’t happen. Here’s a heuristic that could improve your life dramatically: if your theory and actual events in the real world are in dispute, it’s very unlikely to be the actual events in the real world that are mistaken.
How many barrel bombs in total have been dropped? What % of the total munitions used during the Jihadist invasion of Syria have been barrel bombs?
“Barrel bombs” are just a propaganda trope used by the west.
I have no doubt that a few have been used here and there, but they are clumsy, slow improvised weapons and the Syrian government doesn’t want their helicopters so easily shot down.
A standard 155 mm howitzer shell has way more destructive potential than some ad hoc rarely to never used “barrel bomb.”
Oh yes wikipedia. How many US officers were convicted of war crimes for using “barrel bombs” on Vietnamese and Laotian villagers?
OK one barrel bomb might at times kill more people than a single 155mm howitzer shell. But an improvised, unreliable IED is exactly that: improvised and unreliable.
And in fifteen minutes you can deliver fuck all barrel bombs in comparison to the saturation shelling you can accomplish with artillery.
BTW who needs dangerous, unreliable and difficult to deliver “barrel bombs” now that the Russian air force is using precision bunker buster munitions in theatre.
“The war in Afghanistan brought with it losses by attrition.[16] The environment itself, dusty and often hot, was rough on the machines; dusty conditions led to the development of the PZU air intake filters. The rebels’ primary air-defense weapons early in the war were heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, though anything smaller than a 23 millimetre shell generally did not do much damage to an Mi-24. The cockpit glass panels were resistant to 12.7 mm (.50 in caliber) rounds.”
Standardista’s grab a coffee and sit down.. this is going to be rough..
You know Russia and the US are preparing for war, and they are almost launching nukes over Syria, and that China’s is a communist country allied with Russia, well…..
This is far more important.. John Key is flying there now, I presume.
Cripes. I really admire Steve for a lot of reasons …. but my god he has a propensity for putting his nuts on the line!
Logically his argument is good, but reality has a way of being less logical. A lot will depend on just how much longer China keeps exporting vast amounts of flight capital into the Australasian property markets.
Isn’t it amazing the amount of high performance athletes like Sharapova, Serena/Venus Williams, Tour de France cyclists, and all those olympic athletes who are all carrying debilitating medical conditions while competing at the highest level in sport. Thank god for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE’s) they must be thinking!
When you consider the amount of punishment their joints would take its not really, like imagine what its like to spend a couple of hours running up and a clay court, day after day and week after week, not counting the practice as well
Then consider the extra punishment players in contact sports take as well, like Dan Carter will be called on to stop 110kgs plus running at him time and time again, it makes sense that TUEs are allowed, in certain situations
However if its found they’ve broken the rules then they should be dealt with accordingly
No, it creates an avenue to cheat, and it’s obvious this is rife now for anyone who isn’t nieve. If you can take a substance that can enhance your performance some people will do that and take advantage of the rules.
If you don’t think that the increasing size of players and the amount of extra stress on joints means an increase in TUE then you are the one who is naïve
“At 92kg, right wing John Kirwan was like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians during the 1987 Rugby World Cup, a physical anomaly. Seven of the All Blacks’ 12 backs weighed under 80kg.
To put things in perspective, Kirwan would have been four kilograms lighter than the average All Black back in the 2015 squad Fox helped select for this year’s World Cup.”
As long as what they players are doing are within the rules then its just another media beat up
Indeed. I noticed after I’d released a very few. So I spent a few minutes to do a diagnosis of why it was happening.
It was a feature that I had turned off on the original install of Wordfence. However it is a valid and useful security measure against the odd fool that wants to indulge in identity theft, so this time around I’ll shift behavior.
I also want to reactivate the ability for established commenters to use logins if they wish to. It bypasses the issues that Anne and others have commented about with the blocked cookies not remembering the comment details. And I’m pretty sure that I can fix the issues with the damn bots seeking logins.
Here’s my student loan rant from a few days ago that i posted as a comment to one of the contributors on a series about student loans on stuff.co.nz.
I just thought it contained some good valid points and maybe could provoke some more intelligent debate about a scheme that’s clearly very dysfunctional and unegalitarian and stuff rarely sees any good analysis, just emotive and nasty snide comments:
This article on stuff I’m responding to sounds like it was written by a right wing think tank policy person perhaps representing The New Zealand Business Roundtable or their new name ‘The New Zealand Initiative’.
The writer is however correct about one thing which is that the responsibility for the paying of a much larger proportion of tertiary education has been switched from the taxpayer and placed on to the shoulders of students themselves unlike any other previous generation in New Zealand which did not have to endure this (which includes many current and former National Party politicians who benefited from previous schemes but instituted this one)
The systemic problem with this scheme is that in a deregulated neo-liberal environment in New Zealand today where jobs are scarce, wages are low and not only not keeping pace with productivity but with the disestablishment of the requirement of employers to conclude collective bargaining means that students with student loans struggle to pay them back at all.
Now couple this economic environment with a student loans scheme that has a much lower repayment threshold (NZ$18,000) than several other developed European countries including Australia (about $40,000) and interest placed on top of this if you are forced to work overseas because getting a job in New Zealand was much harder than anticipated and you have a recipe for inter-generational debt ultimately causing poverty.
The working overseas after 6 months (184 days) category is particularly punitive in that it doesn’t take into account the borrowers income at all but simply states that you must pay for example $5000 per year if your loan is over $50,000. That amount of payment (if you can afford it) barely covers the interest for one year and at that rate it would take more than 100 years to pay it off.
The Student Loans scheme as it stands now is simply unworkable, unsustainable, punitive and generally unfair. To effectively create a ‘tax switch’ from taxpayers to students via a right wing ideological ‘userpays’ system (in order to keep other tax rates such as corporate tax at a much lower level than they should be) we are ‘building in’ inter-generational inequity, poverty, and homelessness.
Now couple this economic environment with a student loans scheme that has a much lower repayment threshold (NZ$18,000) than several other developed European countries including Australia (about $40,000) and interest placed on top of this if you are forced to work overseas because getting a job in New Zealand was much harder than anticipated and you have a recipe for inter-generational debt ultimately causing poverty.
The Student Loans scheme as it stands now is simply unworkable, unsustainable, punitive and generally unfair. To effectively create a ‘tax switch’ from taxpayers to students via a right wing ideological ‘userpays’ system (in order to keep other tax rates such as corporate tax at a much lower level than they should be) we are ‘building in’ inter-generational inequity, poverty, and homelessness.
Graham didn’t lose his knighthood because the conviction wasn’t for something he deliberately set out to do. Was more about failing to take reasonable care. Love, on the other hand, is a different story. Unless there’s a successful appeal he’s likely to lose his knighthood.
The Kiwi CEO of ANZ Bank has pledged to look at cutting credit card rates and apologised for failing customers on day two of a parliamentary committee review critics say is increasingly playing out a familiar, sorry, and soft, script.
Echoing comments yesterday from Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev, Shayne Elliott told the second day of the hearings into the big four banks his industry had lost touch with its customers, was full of apologies for past wrongdoings by ANZ, and promised to do better.
Logical fallacies aren’t “flexible”. If you have make logically fallacious arguments in order to prove your point it means your point isn’t valid and you need to start again
Because 96.79% of life isn’t spent forming and defending arguments on The Standard. If I go the shop and buy something I don’t expect nor receive the following:
“$4.50 for bread, that’s a bit steep.”
“Yeah but Hillary is a misogynist”
Talking to you here, however, the preceding is pretty standard issue.
I am inclined to agree with Garibaldi. CV has never praised Trump as far as I remember: he admits all Trump’s failings, but then gets into trouble by trying to warn you that Hillary may well be worse. He has not praised Trump, but gets accused of doing so for criticising Hilary. Sorry..
Given the confused state of things – especially, it seems , of the USA electorate, it would not surprise me if Trump did win. That does not mean I want him to.
Given the hostile trolls that spend endless time in disrupting discussion on this site, I echo Garibaldi’s praise of CV and Paul.
Alex Jones – a character as ever – decries Hillary Clinton using a minor and child actor as a political tool in a town hall meeting to further her campaign’s attack narrative on Trump
The most interesting part about this segment is watching how Hillary Clinton lies to the entire crowd by pretending to be surprised and delighted by a ‘random question’ that she knew was coming, and which was probably written for the child actor.
Pretty weak cv, goodness next thing trump will be asking the terminally Ill to hold on a bit and give him their vote but I doubt even he’d sink that low and desperate eh.
My thoughts on being a candidate in this year’s (admittedly rather lack-lustre) local body elections.
I will also say that if the media had spent less time telling everyone how poor turnout was going to be, and more time analysing candidates in their regions, we might have had a more interesting campaign overall.
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Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
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 ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
“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 ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
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. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
Come on NZ! We cannot support this. Glenn Greenwald hold the mirror up to the USA to expose its shameful support of Israel’s despicable behaviour.
https://theintercept.com/2016/10/06/u-s-admits-israel-is-building-permanent-apartheid-regime-weeks-after-giving-it-38-billion/
Israel doesn’t want to rule over Palestinians – they want to eliminate them. What Israel is engaging in is genocide – pure and simple.
A few days ago, and after the “accidental” US bombing of a Syrian army unit, Russian and Iranian media reported that a covert ‘Intelligence Operations Room’ run by the US in Aleppo province and staffed by around 30 military officers from the US and key US allies, had been targeted and destroyed by Russian sea launched cruise missiles. All foreign officers were reported killed and the facility destroyed.
To me this explains US Army Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley making a speech 2 days ago saying that the US was being challenged in an unprecedented way in decades but was ready to destroy its enemies anywhere, any time.
This is on the verge of getting very nasty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wCwJ8pfXXo
Thanks Paul. It is ratcheting hard and idiots like Psycho Milt can’t see it for its obviousness.
If those 30 people were targeted and blown up then how is the US ratcheting it up, isn’t that the people who did the targeting and blowing up?
You could choose to look at National’s decision to pass legislation for an ocean sanctuary in isolation, without looking at the history of the Treaty settlement or even the record of discussions on the Kermadecs over the last year or two, but if you did that you wouldn’t really be able to fully understand the dynamics of what was happening and why, would you.
The theory is that this Operations Room was involved in co-ordinating the air strike on the Syrian Government Army position which resulted in the deaths of 83 government troops.
So it was pay back for that. 30 western specialists and officers lives exchanged for the lives of 83 Syrian Army grunts and officers.
so payback and that makes it somehow the US ratshitting it up? Your logic doesn’t make sense.
Oh and trying to misuse indigenous rights (Kermadec), in the same way you misuse women’s rights, to help you score petty points is, well, sorta, pathetic and petty. We don’t need the fake tears from a snake – so please just don’t bother.
+1 Marty.
Someone who supports a misogynist racist like Trump, and then pretends to care about indigenous rights, or women’s rights, or human rights for that matter, is contemptible IMO.
It might help if you could think independently for a moment.
False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2121-false-choices
“It might help if you could think independently for a moment”.
Unable to deny that Trump is a racist misogynist you decide to insult me instead. Did I say Hillary Clinton was a feminist? Did I say anything at all about Clinton? No.
Just for the record I read very widely and I assess many sources before I come to any opinion about any issue, and I am always ready to have my ideas challenged by people whose opinion I value. My judgement on whose opinions are worth valuing depends on their knowledge of a topic and is tempered by their attitudes to human rights, racism, etc.
I do not value your opinion.
+ 1 Karen.
That viper thinks he is independent shows the extent of his delusion. I value your actual independent views – keep them coming please.
http://wondermark.com/1k62/
Why the should I bother trying to deny bullshit liberal lefty propaganda memes?
Instead, I am carefully pointing out how much worse and studied a misogynist Hillary Clinton is, which includes her personal enabling of predatory sexual behaviour, and how much worse a liar she is, as per her record in public office.
CV: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym/email that doesn’t clash.
yeah ratshitting it up because you got NO actual argument because your man is a total abomination – and you know it
marty: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym that doesn’t clash.
If you don’t know your password, tell me and I’ll send through a password reset when I’m cleaning up the login system this weekend.
Yep I can’t remember my password – so either an email or reset would be good. Does that mean I have to log in each session – I haven’t in the past but if that is what it takes I’ll gladly do it – spose I could add a cool gravitar too.
Thanks for your help L.
Ok. I’ll send a reset this evening. I want to check the email works.
It will be pretty much the same as usual. The browsers will remember the logged in details. You just have to remember the login/password occasionally when the browser forgets (upgrades etc).
In the meantime, I’m turning off the security check.
cool bananas – could you send me a reset as well 🙂
edit – sorry Karen, that was to lprent
Rinocrates
http://wondermark.com/1k62/
Thats wonderful, required reading for thestandard moderators
Actually Karen you have it backwards, as it was you who insulted CV
You essentially accused CV of being a racist and mysogenist because he has expressed opinions backing Trump..
Therefore CV is unable and in fact ineligible in your mind to have valid opinion on other topics because you have decided they don’t count
Frankly your view and opion is not only a logical fail but also emotionally flawed
Marty Mars has let his own prejudice get in the way and his support for your comment is terribly misplaced
False equivalence once again from CV
Not my problem that you can’t tell the fundamental difference between “escalation” and “matching” in a game of deterrence.
it isn’t matching it is escalation and it is pretty obvious. Hell for a fanatic internet general you don’t seem to understand the basics – maybe all your years of living over in Russia has coloured your thinking – oh that’s right you get your facts off the net…
It could also be considered a warning rather than a ratcheting up.
The US has been doing shit and getting away with it for far too long and usually at the expense of Russia and other nations. This could be a very physical we’re not going to take this shit from you any more on the Russians part.
The next step is in the US’ hands. Whether they continue acting like a childish bully or if they start acting like an mature adult.
And, no, I don’t think that the US killing those Syrians was a mistake and I’m pretty sure that the Russians don’t think so either.
I am sure you have seen this.
Just wish others would watch it and listen carefully.
John Pilger – A World War Has Begun: Break The Silence
http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUW5-LlLQ1Q
Thanks for the link, Paul.
Russia will take down any American airplane or missile targeting Syrian army!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ0cTxABUY8
Also worth remembering the Russian approach in these matters – they talk small and they act big. They try to only minimally telegraph their plans. Stylistically, this tends to be the diametric opposite of the US approach.
If war does” officially” break out no guesses whose side we will be on with Key in the beehive.
Why is this military build up happening without official comment and has not been raised so far in the presidential campaign ?
The usual ‘talk tough’ routine from a US Military leader.
Fine and dandy till they have to fight on foreign soil and the body bags start arriving back home. US soldiers are not know for their morale once the going gets tough.
Fighting Russian forces will be quite a bit different to fighting Iraqi conscripts who would rather be someplace else.
Thanks, Paul, Are we sure this boneheaded cretinous bloody dangerous prat is for real? or is it a new modern version of the TV programme Rowan & Martins Laughin with General Bull Right
That is one of the problems today, we don’t have the satire that shows up these dickheads for what they are.
I trust Pilger, though.
“I trust Pilger, though”
+1
“I trust Pilger though”
+100
Thanks Paul i always make time to listen to Mr Pilger and it would be great to have his analysis here on a regular basis as he no longer welcome on MSM.
MSM and our government prefer the silence and keeping the idiots entertained.
I am sure you are aware of this site Mosa, if not highly recommended.
http://johnpilger.com/
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/718154/world-war-three-warfare-lethal-fast-guaranteed-William-Hix-Joseph-Anderson
Meanwhile the Herald’s online stories are:
Aaron Smith sex scandal: ‘A huge mistake’ – All Black speaks
Bullies ‘set fire’ to autistic boy
Thunderstruck: ‘Household was shaking’
Dick Smith CEO has his day in court
Is this Steven Adams’ biggest fan?
Luxury air travel fares drop by 40%
Revealed: NZ’s cheapest supermarket
Shortland Street shock as Rachel leaves
Business Class punch-up onboard flight
$1200 for pizza order that never arrived
The Cold War is simmering and we still get fed pap.
@Paul on the same topic Morning Report was dross this morning.
In an hour from 6.30 it was mostly very very long weather forecasts, TWO stories on the UN secretary-general job (this has been done to death-the classic being Susie Ferguson’s questioning who will be appointed deputy to the s-g; Quiz question: name the current, or any, deputy s-g) followed by (yes you guessed) Aaron Smith’s knee trembler, though to be fair Guyon’s interview with the reporter in South Africa was good, especially when the reporter said Smith’s mistake was to have his AB’s kit on to which Guyon said “well some of the time” and the reporter’s comment (paraphrasing here) that “he was amazed the NZ PM had got involved. In South Africa this would never happen as there are far more important issues for the PM to deal with.” Precisely.
Who on earth is editing Morning Report these days?
Ways to express your displeasure
Text : 2101
Phone: (04) 474 1999
rnz@radionz.co.nz
Steven Joyce?
@ Paul (2.3) WHAT!!!! Nothing about that shallow, still in shock Kardashian woman. NZH’s standards are indeed slipping! (sarc)
Seriously though, I agree with you. The pathetic un-newsworthy rubbish msm is dishing up as news, has National’s chief of misinformation Joyce’s foul stamp all over it, directing what Kiwis shall or shall not be told.
To keep the people informed on the important issues, might open up some thought and discussion, giving rise to some serious questions being asked.
Yes it is an outrage that the shallow MSM has so quickly dropped the kardashian story. What are they afraid of!
Whilst I agree with your point in general I hardly think setting a disabled 10 year old on fire is “pap”.
yep
Aaron Smith sex scandal: ‘A huge mistake’ – sex, role models, social norms, toxic masculinity
Bullies ‘set fire’ to autistic boy – othering, dehumanising, violence
Thunderstruck: ‘Household was shaking’ – climate change, community
Dick Smith CEO has his day in court – potential corporate notgoodthings
Is this Steven Adams’ biggest fan? – heroes, role models
Luxury air travel fares drop by 40% – the 1%ers
Revealed: NZ’s cheapest supermarket – the bottom 50%ers
Shortland Street shock as Rachel leaves – issues raise3d about her on screen addictions/manipulated
Business Class punch-up onboard flight – violence, 0,1%ers
$1200 for pizza order that never arrived – food, nutrition, service
So Paul each and every one of those stories can be illuminating to the current issues facing humankind in 2016.
It is like when my 8year old says, “It’s boring” umm no ‘it’ isn’t.
You have to search out the flakes of gold, it takes work – stop moaning and do some work paul.
I’m mildly relieved that the kid being set alight looks to be accident resulting from kids playing with fire rather than malice. Doesn’t change much overall, poor lad is still in a bad way and South Sudan still looks sucky, but I register enough shit in the world already.
+ 1 yep
A few days ago, and after the “accidental” US bombing of a Syrian army unit, Russian and Iranian media reported that a covert ‘Intelligence Operations Room’ run by the US in Aleppo province and staffed by around 30 military officers from the US and key US allies, had been targeted and destroyed by Russian sea launched cruise missiles.
Things reported by “Russian media” mean “things the Russian government would like reported.” Can you think of a reason why the Russian government might want to release a story for domestic consumption about how they paid back the Americans hard for that friendly fire incident against a Russian client? Because I can. For consumption outside Russia and Iran, they’d need some evidence that this actually happened, which is why it’s not news outside those countries.
And things reported by corporate western media mean things the military industrial complex would like reported.
I’m glad you posted a 9/11 Truther video to illustrate your point – it does illustrate it, just not in the way you’d hoped.
9/11 was the first big lie.
Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was the second and it looks like Syria is the third.
And the gullible still believe what the repeaters and the sockpuppets tell them. We are on the brink of WW3 thanks to this ubnquestioning acceptance of the media.
By the way, ad hominems do not an argument make. You do not end a debate by saying the words ‘truthers.’ or ‘conspiracy theory.’
Iraq
Man whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-100000-deaths-confesses-all-7606236.html
9/11
9/11 – the big cover-up?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/12/911thebigcoverup
As expected, the opinion piece “9/11 – the big cover-up?” fails to either identify or describe a cover-up, let alone a big one.
9/11: The Big Lie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11:_The_Big_Lie
He’s wrong. It was the Illuminati, assisted by the Lizard people.
I spend very little time or energy thinking about 911 these days. For a few months immediately afterwards I was intensely curious, but quickly realised that as a very ordinary person on the other side of the planet I had no way to properly verify any information … official or otherwise.
The ‘truthers’ probably made a mistake to have spent so much energy on the building collapses. While they were the dramatic, visible and deeply intriguing aspect of what happened that day, it was the astounding myriad of other details, coincidences, inconsistencies on the fringes of these events which left the biggest impression on me.
No single one of them amounted to a smoking gun. Many could have just been an artifact of confirmation bias, but the sheer mass of them could not be so easily dismissed. The internet has accumulated an extraordinary volume of speculation on 911, probably much of it misguided, near-misses or downright absurd. But that does not mean ALL of it is wrong. Even if just 1% of it is correct we still have a problem.
In the end it comes down to credibility, “who ya gunna believe?” Well you cannot get around the established fact that official 911 narrative was written by the same people who told us Iraq had WMD’s it was about to unleash on the world. On that basis alone you have to understand these people are capable of the big, deliberate and conscious lie. The truthers have failed to land a critical blow, the establishment loses more and more credibility with every passing year. Both have hidden agendas, both twist and distort to suit their purposes. After all these years, all these wasted pixels, certainty eludes us.
It is my guess that only a very small number of people know exactly what happened that day; probably fewer than 30. And they are all very good at keeping secrets.
The main thing is understanding that the official narrative of the events of 9/11 cannot be correct.
From passengers making cell phone calls at 30,000 to 40,000 feet in the air, to the 110 tonne mass of Flight UA93 ‘vapourising’ into a small burnt hole in Shanksville paddock (but the flight recorders found intact) to the NIST modelling and explanation for the collapse of WTC7 now being definitively refuted.
However, as to what actually happened on that day I agree with you that only a few dozen people at most would know.
I am reminded of all the crazy theories in the years after the President Kennedy assassination. All of them ultimately debunked.
I suspect something similar will happen over 9/11.
The film clip of the 9/11 tragedy which made quite an impression on me at the time was the moment George W Bush was informed of what happened. He was sitting in a classroom reading to the children and – while he showed no facial emotion – I could see the shock in his eyes. He got up and quietly left the room.
I have no doubt mistakes were made and actions taken that the “authorities” wouldn’t want the masses to know about (there always is) but a US conspiracy of lies as promoted by the 9/11 conspiracy theorists? No way. Those hijackers were al qaeda trained terrorist operatives and they were there to commit the gravest possible damage possible on behalf of Osama bin Laden and co.
In the end it comes down to credibility, “who ya gunna believe?” Well you cannot get around the established fact that official 911 narrative was written by the same people who told us Iraq had WMD’s it was about to unleash on the world.
And that is a very good example. The WMD claim was a big, deliberate lie involving only a few intelligence operatives, and it fell to bits in pretty short order. As you say, it comes down to credibility, and a big, deliberate lie involving huge numbers of people and far greater complexity than the WMD scam, but that has held solid for 15 years and counting, just isn’t credible.
@PM
I thought about point that when I was writing it. My response is that the two matters are not equivalent or directly comparable.
It was my sense that ultimately if there was a secret operation around 911, it actually did not need to involve very many people at all. And it was all over in a matter of hours.
By contrast invading Iraq involved whole armies from many countries, over many years. Of course that lie was unsustainable. (And even then it took years before it was officially acknowledged as such.)
CV – the calls were not made from cellphones. They were made from the phones already on the plane.
And the reasons for the collapse of the WTC 7 haven’t been refuted in the slightest
The story we have been told cannot be correct.
We don’t know what happened and we do know that we have been lied to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETF0_SOXcg
So you believe the conclusions of the Warren Report?
You don’t think that Oliver Stone makes some very obvious points?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7tZd3M6j5Q
From the onboard Airphones you mean?
You need to recheck your facts. In the official narrative, although those Airphones were also used, at least two of the calls were made from passenger cell phones.
It was my sense that ultimately if there was a secret operation around 911, it actually did not need to involve very many people at all. And it was all over in a matter of hours.
Thing is, what kind of a secret operation? The one that Paul et al favour, that it was actually a false flag operation by the US government, is so laughable that once you know someone gives it credence, you write them off as completely lacking judgement. Lesser versions, such as that they US government knew it was planned but allowed it to happen, still have a huge credibility hurdle in that it requires all of the people involved to have no conscience and to have never mentioned it to someone who does. That’s common among the people running totalitarian regimes, but isn’t in democratic ones, and even in totalitarian regimes it usually gets out eventually. There is no credible theory of a secret operation yet presented.
CV:
cell phone signals can work between 20 and 40 miles from a tower.
30000ft is about 6 miles.
Using the power of geometry again, in a right-angled triangle where the height of the aircraft is 6 and the length of the hypoteneuse (distance between the plane and the cell tower) is 20, then the ground distance from the cell tower is roughly 18.
So to make a cell call from 30,000ft a cell tower needs to be within an 18 mile ground radius for the minimum call duration. Aluminium airframe might lower that, but no terrain interference would compensate the other direction. I lazily wonder whether clouds or humidity might be an issue either way.
So anyway, yeah it’s possible to make a cell call from an airplane.
Firstly, how does the range of those towers change once you take into account that cell phone towers have the maximum sensitivity of their TX/RX antennae configured for terrestrial (ground or near ground) mobile phone users?
Secondly, are there any other examples (other than 9/11) where passengers in the late 90’s / early 00’s successfully used their mobile phones from planes over 30,000 feet?
By the year ~2000 virtually every business professional on a commercial plane would have had a mobile phone.
It looks like people were using cellphones on aircraft in the 1980s, and on private and corporate jets in the 1990s.
In fact, the main problem with their signal on the cell network seems to be that they tie up too many cell towers at the same time, rather than having difficulty just reaching one.
Incorrect
Speed plays as big of a factor as the distance from the towers
ad hominems…..
Yes Paul ever day to you a new crisis dawns, doomsday looms, what a sad existence you lead
A story in the English services of Russian and Iranian media is not for “domestic consumption” if you think about it.
Btw the people in the Pentagon who need to know, know the truth.
Well yeah, the version released in the English services isn’t for domestic consumption – it’s for the gullible dupes in the English-speaking world who imagine they’re consuming something other than government propaganda via those services.
There are of course people in the Pentagon who know the truth or lack of it in the story, but I don’t think they’re going to join the thread to confirm or deny it.
Are we sure the ‘Intelligence Operations Room’ wasn’t a hospital?
What would a hospital be doing with military personnel from the US, UK, France, Turkey and Israel?
Are we sure that the “military personnel from the US, UK, France, Turkey and Israel” weren’t babies?
McFlock: the reason that your comments are going into moderation is because you are commenting without logging in. Wordfence auto moderates all comments by non-logged commenters that match people with logins. The reasons for this are obvious – it is to highlight possible spoofing. Could you either login, or use a pseudonym that doesn’t clash.
If you don’t know your password, I’ll push a password reset through over the weekend (I’m cleaning up unused logins and fixing the login system then)
argh bother.
My password might be on my home computer, if it’s operational today lol (dodgy power plug)
found my password 🙂
Cool.
Are we sure the ‘ military personnel ‘ weren’t medical staff?
Dunno, but they’re all dead now according to Iranian and Russian news services, and the intelligence operations facility that they were working out of destroyed.
Makes a good cover.
The Aaron Smith saga shows how dreadful the media has begun.
RNZ is there with the rest of the awful tabloid media this country now has.
Brilliant talk.
Worth 18 minutes of your time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVNvfbOaJ3M
I gazed at this big white space for 18 minutes, I feel sleepy, not enlightened?
what clip?
Some inmates were so badly injured in the fighting they were hospitalised, for injuries ranging from brain damage to broken limbs.
In some cases staff present in a unit were observed from CCTV footage failing to undertake an active role in supervising prisoners – for instance staff were observed playing pool or table tennis.
Prisoners who refused to participate were threatened or “pack attacked” by gang members.
Despite some incidents meeting the threshold for serious assault, Serco reported them to Corrections as “accidents”, or not at all, the report said.
Serco paid $8 million to cover the costs of Corrections stepping in and for failing to reach performance targets. It also missed out on performance bonuses worth $3.1m.
The Government could not rule out rehiring Serco to run the Mt Eden jail again in future.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11723624
Does anybody know if the inmates that were forced to partake have been compensated?
Fortunately for John Key the Aaron Smith story has drowned this out….even on RNZ.
Indeed, Paul. It was also the lead story on One News last night.
Government shrugging this off as nothing to do with them. It’s all Corrections’ and Serco’s fault apparently and the private model (reducing costs and raising risks for profit) which they forced upon the sector is and always was the way to go.
The fact that the Government could not rule out rehiring Serco (despite it’s poor performance) raises questions if it goes beyond being merely an ideological belief.
This what you mean?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/sercos-prison-fight-clubs-might-have-spread-to-wiri—labour-2016100708
“Fears of legal action” has been used as a smokescreen before by this government.
No. I was referring to the assertion the Government could not rule out rehiring Serco to run the Mt Eden jail again. Made in the link I provided above.
As for the Government fearing legal action, it brings into question the quality of the contract and the competence of the Government to safeguard the public interest.
Certainly does. The same government who negotiated New Zealand’s position in the TPP.
Indeed.
Government shrugging this off as nothing to do with them.
The ability to do this is a major, if never-mentioned, benefit of privatising prisons – from the government’s perspective, at least. Not so much for the rest of us.
That’s what I love about National’s attitude to private prisons. It borders on a religious belief. Serco ran Mt Eden like a man with no legs runs the New York marathon. They woefully understaffed the prison (presumably a cost-cutting measure), lacked all supervision of both inmates and officers (whose attitude to their roles appeared to be “I’m just chillin’ with my homies, yo!”), failed to adequately monitor the deteriorating situation and then lied about it all in an attempt to evade responsibility.
And National’s response is basically, “Yes, we acknowledge that this all looks distinctly shonky and we’ve rapped Serco across the knuckles accordingly. In other news, we’ll probably award them another multi-million dollar contract sometime in the near future despite their track record of incompetence, negligence and a complete disregard for the job they’re being paid millions of tax-payer dollars to perform. It could be worse, after all. They could be having sex in a public toilet. Tsk tsk, Aaron Smith. Shame on you.”
“It borders on a religious belief”
Or dear we say, possibly corruption?
Both?
Corruption carried out because of their religious belief that privatisation and doing stuff because you get paid is always better.
After reports of the culture of corruption within the Auckland City Council being described as normalised, one begins to wonder what’s going on in central government.
Food for thought: https://charteredaccountantsanz.com/~/media/FutureInc/Pdfs/2015/0415-45_%20FutureIncAntiCorruption.ashx
“Does anybody know if the inmates that were forced to partake have been compensated?”
Yes, you will be happy to hear that the Head Hunters have offered the inmate’s they forced to participate in the Mt Eden fight club $10k each or to the same value in meth. 🙂
Seriously though, has Serco coughed up?
Is anyone taking a case?
Is there anything in the contract ensuring Serco are liable to compensate inmates they fail to care for?
The Chinese community seem to have been feeling rather generous towards Phil Goff.
In all, the event raised $250,000, which is around half the candidate’s estimated campaign bill.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11723129
They like to back a winner, don’t they?
Corruption though? No sir, not the Chinese!
Careful, they may just have Chinesesoundingsurnames but be diedinthewool kiwis of long standing.
And good on him.
A winning campaign is a well funded campaign.
Hope he wins tomorrow.
If that’s the case labour are in serious trouble.
Trolling away…………
Trolling the trollers……..
Yup
Might want to forward that advice to the Labour party
“A winning campaign is a well funded campaign”
The problem is, what cost will that funding have?
Why are you hoping he wins tomorrow?
The Herald (yes I know highly dubious) reader poll today has Crone 34 Goff 33 Swarbrick 17
Some interesting numbers there! Really shows who reads the Herald-Goff should walk it on these numbers given the characteristics of the response group…..but….but…. Swarbrick is really eating into Goff’s vote with an amazing 17%
Interesting.
Here’s a survey showing that among voters saying they will definitely vote, Goff is attracting 50 per cent of all Labour voters and 35 per cent of Greens. But he is also picking up 24 per cent of National Party voters and 25 per cent of NZ First voters.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/84608545/phil-goffs-winning-centreright-appeal
Hilarious; 50% of Labour voters will not support the former Labour Leader
Alternatively, considering he’s not that Left, it’s disappointing 50% of Labour voters are supporting him.
This.
He must be disappointed not to pick up many ACT supporters.
Goff is a complete waste of space IMIO . As minister of justice he failed to exercise his responsibility to see justice done in the case of Peter Ellis.
Dont expect anything more than favors for business friends from him.
Well, nobody offered to ‘buy’ so much as a bottle of wine from him. Such lack of commitment.
@Bearded Git. Pretty much anything could happen with such low voter turn out.
If Goff somehow managed to lose or win by a small margin compared to what he originally had, some lessons for labour there.
@savenz…..agreed abysmal turnout will certainly help Crone. How hard is it to post a letter?
The real scandal is that (anecdotally) many potential voters are not even registered, so the one third that vote are much less than that in reality. The Labour/Green bloc should be working right now to increase registration for the election next year.
Toby Manhire being serious about Child Poverty versus Key inaction.
“As has been noted repeatedly this week, it’s more than a little galling that a bold target can be set to rid New Zealand of predators but not to rid New Zealand of child poverty, although it’s important to note that no one is suggesting such eradications should following the same prescriptions.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11723866
Manhire is a hero. Keeps me sane. I love his Totally Fucking Baffled measuring device.
Its simpler in theory to get rid of predators then it is to deal with people
“although it’s important to note that no one is suggesting such eradications should following the same prescriptions.”
Pity, because it’s about time that people in power stood up and named NACT as the predators that they are. I would say a similar prescription would work. We can’t eradicate pests, but we can learn how to control them and keep them in their place so they don’t fuck with the wider ecosystem.
Weka
” We can’t eradicate pests, but we can learn how to control them and keep them in their place so they don’t fuck with the wider ecosystem.”
That is really important truth.. many policy makers and standard contributers dont get this. That must be the foundation of any pest policy!
Clearly Toby Manhire has mistaken the “ashprashnull” for “aspirational”. An ashprashnull person makes promises while an aspirational person tries to fulfil them.
No ones links are appearing? vids? I just get blank boxes that are quite large with only what the commenter says, not there clip. -sysop
Hey Paul, when you join the David Vaughan Icke fan club, do you also get complimentary copies of “Enemy of the State” and “Conspiracy Theory”?
Ad hominems do not consitute an argument.
Have you watched this film?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETF0_SOXcg
Have you read or listened to the work of John Pilger?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUW5-LlLQ1Q
Have you heard of the Chilcott report?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/iraq-inquiry-key-points-from-the-chilcot-report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02_bwv9s_6w
Have you listened to Chomsky on the Ukraine and Crimea?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-lKRsmCx4E
The Big Lie About the Libyan War
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/22/libya-and-the-myth-of-humanitarian-intervention/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-22/british-parliament-confirms-libya-war-was-based-lies-%E2%80%A6-turned-nation-%E2%80%9Cshit-show%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%A6-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li0gINQF5ww
http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/steve-hansen-assures-public-that-all-blacks-would-not-normally-have-sex/
Yeah. Sanctimonious panty-sniffers are a bit like the poor … they will always be with us.
Yeah my view is this:
If the couples kid needed the toilet why didn’t one parent take the kid to another toilet and the other parent go find security/management but instead they waited 10 minutes filing the incident
If no laws were broken then whose business is it anyway but If a law was broken then charge Aaron Smith and the women involved
Why does Aaron Smith have to be paraded on TV and beg forgiveness as if he’s done something terrible
Having said all that…if you’re a public figure then its best not to do anything dodgy in public
Getting serious now.
#HurricaneMatthew
And then there’s shit like this.
For the Nact train smash and all its attendant little carriages, it is now 5 minutes to midnight. Woooo Hoooo!!!!
?
You know, Pucky – Doogs is doing for the Left what you do for the right – mocking and eroding your confidence, over-playing any perceived advantage and aiming to discourage adherents (in this case, you and your mob).
I’m amazed you didn’t recognise it!
Well I tend to post something to back up what I say, polls, articles that kind of thing, people may not believe it but at least I try to base it on something
This is really close to the “I sense the tide is going out on National because I spoke to someone” kind of thing with nothing to back it up with
You’re a link spammer.
You’re a spink lammer.
And a bad link spammer at that
Well I admit I’ll never be as good as you at link spamming
With sources like Kiwiblog, that’s clear.
Spelunking.
Paul takes link spanning to dizzy new heights, unfortunatky he only link span the same shite and authors on and on and on and on and on zzzzzz
He’s a spambot dick pic ……. a dick pic stalking a site …. a troll
In earlier days he would have been that heavy breather on the phone ….
What he most certainly is not is a person who walks into a meeting or party and walks around offending and insulting everybody …….. in real life that would have consequences
http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/politics/wellington-politics-pragmatic-mr-nick-leggett/
A very interesting read.
Yes very interesting. It says a lot about Guyon Espiner’s political views.
And it’s very interesting ( and a kiss of death) that ACT supporters like yourself promote Nick Leggett.
You all support the neoliberal wing of the Labour Party.
A much better prospect for Wellington….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDUJNE35cJQ
Paul – not an act supporter. But thanks for guessing wrong yet again.
Interesting that an overt right winger supports Leggett.
Like all those Tories in the UK supporting Owen Smith and all those large corporates supporting Clinton.
Do you get all your news from kiwiblog?
He is just trolling.
Repeating what Farrar tells him to say.
When the biggest troll on the site (Paul) says someone’s trolling then there might be something to it 🙂
I dunno about you, but I thought this was a left wing site.
And you only come on this site to stir up trouble.
That’s trolling.
I know about you and when you’re faced with an opinion you don’t agree with you cry troll
It’s interesting. No sooner is there an anti-Little/Labour cut and paste from Farrar than it miraculously appears here.
Muttonbird – yes got link from kiwiblog. Then read it and found it interesting. This posted in here – you know a blog that discusses politics.
Paul – you will see there was no commentary from me other than it was an interesting read.
How you take that as repeating farrar I don’t know.
All I can guess is that the two of you are so pathetic that you actually have no reasonable comment and just have to follow post of people who disagree with you and make unfounded and bullshit (Paul looking at you) comments.
So I’m guessing hat makes you guys the trolls – and second rate ones at that.
Cutting and pasting from Kiwiblog is repeating farrar.
This is a left wing blog.
Literally. Cutting and pasting the cut and paster is the sincerest form of flattery.
Indeed.
I will type this slowly for you. I clicked on the link from kiwiblog and then after reading the article copied the link and pasted here.
That’s not repeating dpf it’s using a little thing call hyperlinks. They are all over the internet.
And congrats yes this is a left wing blog. Well done. I’m sorry comrade I missed the bit where everything written has to be be left good – right bad and no other discussion is allowed or must be called lies or trolling.
Dull.
If you ever posted anything ‘leftgood’ you might get a different reaction – but you only come here to exhibit your biases. You have no content and you don’t engage. That’s trolling.
Since when did you become god re the rules on this site
Since now.
Cower, brief mortal!
And Minister Parata was speaking to the U Learn Conference of teachers in Rotorua yesterday.
Actually everything that she said was true to my ears, though I thought that most schools had been innovating already.
“Going forward, some of the key themes that will characterise New Zealand’s future education system are:
-every student can be in the driving seat of their own learning through digital technologies, with support from highly skilled teachers who help them chart a course to achieve their goals for the future;
-the collapse of traditional institutional boundaries with students able to learn from a range of settings, both physical and virtual;
-learning in collaboration with their peers and others, face-to-face and virtually;”…
and many more.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1610/S00084/speech-to-ulearn16-conference-rotorua.htm
heh
Brief video compiling the lies Hillary Clinton has told to the public:
– Claiming that ISIS uses videos of Donald Trump to recruit new members
– Lies she told to the victims families of the Benghazi embassy attacks
– Claiming that she arrived in Bosnia under sniper fire
– Pretending that she has always been against NAFTA
– etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMpqImAjel4
The narcissistic bully wins tiny fingers down, 25 outright lies in a single speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dec_Yt2yns8
25! in one speech! WTF I wonder how don monetizes that shit – he’s sitting 0.1% 5ppm like scrooge mcfuckenduck! I bet all his advisers are working hard on that one – how do we get the money, come on think, THINK!
Can’t help himself.
edit: patsy questions, huh
That video tries to argue that free trade, off shoring production and having goods manufactured in China have CREATED more US jobs than it has destroyed.
Do you really believe that?
And if you really believe that, why do you think Trump has picked up so many voters from blue collar families and from counties who have been directly affected by high levels of unemployment?
ummm he’s LIED to them perhaps
He’s a compulsive liar.
#TrumpCheck
So you believe the video joe90 put up?
That free trade does actually create more jobs in the USA than it destroys?
I believe trump is a liar.
Cv I get voting for trump is not voting for Hillary, but that does not mean we make out trump to something that he is not, both are despicable
Well, there is that point.
A doco on the indiscriminate Russian bombing in Aleppo, Syria. Just awful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtyk0f_8AfI
You need to be a bit more discerning about your sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_controversies_and_criticism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coverage_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/4941
http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-jazeera-from-media-power-to-laughing-stock/30159?print=1
http://www.globalresearch.ca/journey-to-aleppo-exposing-the-truth-buried-under-nato-propaganda/5547333
Looking at the documentary I find it difficult to come to the conclusion that it’s been fabricated.
It’s part of the reason why I’m not sure if I want to take sides anymore on who’s right and wrong. There’s atrocities from all sides.
yep and fanatics on both – I always get very wary of those who profess to know, from the other side of the world, what is going on in such a messed up, complex and confusing situation. The squeaky door technique does not mean they know more.
There is one side that is most certainly wrong and that is Turkey allowing a flow of arms, men and materiel to resupply the Islamists with in an illegal effort to take down Assad, and NATO/US at the very least implicitly approving of that.
I’m wary, nay skeptical, of anything you say – as I’ve said to you before your ability to discern is gone, your ability to consider is gone – all that is left is gone, you are a puppet saying set lines to spin a story – probably a fanatic by most of the inaccurate and frankly embarrassing spin you seem to love to tell us all, along with slogans NKorea would be proud of.
Well, if you can’t judge for yourself the last several years role played by Erdogan and Turkey in Syria, you probably shouldn’t be criticising my abilities of discernment.
Where did I say that?
Where did you say what?
About Erdogan/Turkey and their role in the Syrian conflict, or about my ability to discern “being gone.”
Just look up a comment or two, it’s right there.
What does ‘amost certainly’ mean?
I think your narrative is as flawed as the rest of them. It’s propaganda.
Huh? How does that relate to what I said to you at 4:58 or at 6:23?
What the hell? I’ve reread the sub thread and i can’t understand what bits you can’t understand. Sorry.
Actually Al Jazeera is quite good – probably because Qatar has no hegemonic agenda for Syria. If only Russia could say the same – but they can not.
What’s the “hegemonic agenda” that Russia has for Syria?
What’s the “hegemonic agenda” that the US has for Syria?
BTW the Qatari want control of Syria to go to a friendly government willing to deny Syrian territory to Gazprom, and instead put Qatari pipelines through to Europe.
I’m sure you knew that, right?
Russia’s hegemonic agenda includes permanent ground force basing and a Mediterraean naval base. It also includes dumping shit on everything the US does or attempts, whether or not it might be constructive.
You believe yourself remarkably well-informed about Qatari ambitions. Now, get a map and draw a line consistent with this pipeline you envisage. If such a pipeline is planned rest assured Qatar is a pretty minor player compared to others on its route.
And do explain why Gazprom is entitled to veto a Qatari pipeline anyway.
Why should the US have a score of military bases located around the Med and Russia not even have one or two?
After all, the Mediterranean is far closer to Russian national interests than to US national interests.
Gazprom doesn’t. However, the Syrian Government does, and it declined the Qatari pipeline proposal in 2009.
No problem with Syrian bases for Russia – if you ascribe the same predatory hegemonic agenda to them that we do to US base expansion.
So Gazprom isn’t really part of the equation – you brought them up – they are irrelevant. Qatar is entitled to support or press for a pipeline – though not by force of arms.
There is rather a lot of force of arms in Syria atm. Everywhere that Russia goes armed force, not public assent, is seen to triumph. This is not democracy. Putin rigging his first election was not democracy. Putin having Politkovskaya and Nemtsov killed and revising the Russian constitution to become effectively president for life is not democracy.
And Assad’s lifelong ‘presidential’ misrule of Syria is not democracy. Democracies do not barrel bomb their citizens – only despots do that.
Important to remember that over 3/4 of Aleppo is under government or YPG control now.
Unfortunately in the remaining area several thousand Jihadist/ISIS fighters have created a whole tunnel/bunker network around, under and through many civilian buildings.
Eliminating these entrenched forces will be tough, deadly work and yes despite safe evacuation corridors created earlier in the year for civilians, there will be many civilian deaths.
It’s kind of funny how much your comments these days read like US spokesthings’ announcements from its more unsavoury wars. I used to read shit like the comment above all the time when I was working for the US Army during the Iraq War – it’s as stomach-turning coming from you as it was from them.
Syrian Government forces with Russian air support will be doing exactly the same thing in South West Aleppo as US/Iraqi forces have done to cities like Mosul/Fallujah/Ramadi with US air support.
Even in 2003, the US military wasn’t bombing cities by unloading barrels full of explosive out of the back of a helicopter, and generally managed to avoid hospitals. The indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets you’re promoting as reasonable are actually worse, by a long way, than the activities of the US military in Iraq that you constantly treat as a benchmark of western criminality. And orders of magnitude worse than the drone strikes you get so irate about.
So you say.
But barrel bombs delivered by helicopter are just another BS western propaganda trope. Firstly if they existed they are nothing more than low yield IEDs.
Secondly helicopters are highly vulnerableto small arms fire and are thus a useless delivery platform for these weapons.
lol
Stop pretending you know what you’re talking about. They can be equivalent in size to the largest regularly used conventional bombs (2,000 pounds), and the “yield” in this context is meaningless (I suspect you came across the term in arguments about nukes, and didn’t realise that the explosive power of a nuke has more to do with its construction than its net weight in explosive material).
Secondly, yes helicopters are vulnerable. that’s why there’s footage of them dropping barrel-shaped objects that seem to be associated with large explosions where they land, and helicopters being shot down. Someone who avidly seeks online videos like you do will have seen it. It’s a pretty simple youtube search. Similarly wikipedia has a page devoted to them and another to their use in Syria, both with source links.
None so blind as those who will not see, I guess.
Why is “yield” in this context meaningless? You yourself have noted that conventional warheads and bombs are measured by “yield”.
Huh? Nukes?
But so what? The Syrian airforce has a very limited number of helicopters and each of these helicopters would only be able to carry a bomb load of a few of these barrels.
With a high risk of getting shot down.
Totally combat ineffective weapon, and hence a silly propaganda trope used by the west.
BTW when you see photos and video of places like Homs totally levelled to the ground, that was done by artillery, not by primitive ineffective improvised “barrel bombs” whatever the hell they are.
Well, obviously it must be sensible to them because there’s so much film of them actually doing it.
Cheap substitute for jet bombs, and more accurate. So a few older choppers and younger pilots get zotzed. Plenty more aid from Putin when that becomes and issue.
Have I? Where?
But barrel bombs delivered by helicopter are just another BS western propaganda trope.
The eye-witness accounts, the video footage, the unexploded barrel bombs… no expense spared on those BS western propaganda tropes, huh?
Secondly helicopters are highly vulnerable to small arms fire and are thus a useless delivery platform for these weapons.
It’s funny how often you dismiss things that actually happened with some made-up bullshit about how something like that couldn’t happen. Here’s a heuristic that could improve your life dramatically: if your theory and actual events in the real world are in dispute, it’s very unlikely to be the actual events in the real world that are mistaken.
How many barrel bombs in total have been dropped? What % of the total munitions used during the Jihadist invasion of Syria have been barrel bombs?
“Barrel bombs” are just a propaganda trope used by the west.
I have no doubt that a few have been used here and there, but they are clumsy, slow improvised weapons and the Syrian government doesn’t want their helicopters so easily shot down.
A standard 155 mm howitzer shell has way more destructive potential than some ad hoc rarely to never used “barrel bomb.”
Really? 100lbs of HE vs up to 2000lbs in a barrel?
I see you still haven’t bothered to look up “barrel bomb” in wikipedia. Most if not all your questions would be answered.
Oh yes wikipedia. How many US officers were convicted of war crimes for using “barrel bombs” on Vietnamese and Laotian villagers?
OK one barrel bomb might at times kill more people than a single 155mm howitzer shell. But an improvised, unreliable IED is exactly that: improvised and unreliable.
And in fifteen minutes you can deliver fuck all barrel bombs in comparison to the saturation shelling you can accomplish with artillery.
BTW who needs dangerous, unreliable and difficult to deliver “barrel bombs” now that the Russian air force is using precision bunker buster munitions in theatre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Syrian_Civil_War_barrel_bomb_attacks
“The war in Afghanistan brought with it losses by attrition.[16] The environment itself, dusty and often hot, was rough on the machines; dusty conditions led to the development of the PZU air intake filters. The rebels’ primary air-defense weapons early in the war were heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft cannons, though anything smaller than a 23 millimetre shell generally did not do much damage to an Mi-24. The cockpit glass panels were resistant to 12.7 mm (.50 in caliber) rounds.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-24
Your trademark non-sequitur.
Anyway, your questions will be answered if you go to wikipedia, search “barrel bomb”, and then click on “syria”. Knock yourself out.
then again we may need the people to sing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNrqc6yvTU
I was just reading Fisk on Aleppo – it’s curious how Aleppo was the centre of genocides in 1915 too.
News FLASH!!!!!
OMFG it’s a catastrophe!!!
Standardista’s grab a coffee and sit down.. this is going to be rough..
You know Russia and the US are preparing for war, and they are almost launching nukes over Syria, and that China’s is a communist country allied with Russia, well…..
This is far more important.. John Key is flying there now, I presume.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/sport/dan-carter-and-joe-rokocoko-fail-drugs-test—report-2016100711
Our media is awful.
Bill Hicks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eEiJ5QhLrk
Professor Steve Keen (Kingston University) says property prices could fall up to 70%, and why Australia will be hit by a recession in 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyG7UgRWTM
Cripes. I really admire Steve for a lot of reasons …. but my god he has a propensity for putting his nuts on the line!
Logically his argument is good, but reality has a way of being less logical. A lot will depend on just how much longer China keeps exporting vast amounts of flight capital into the Australasian property markets.
Yep – you cannot underestimate how long they can keep this game of pretend and extend going.
It's not reality that's less logical but that our financial system is totally delusional.
Well, the Chinese authorities do seem to be trying to stop that.
It just keeps getting better for rugby.
Carter and Rokocoko test positive for steroids – French report
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/315087/carter-and-rokocoko-test-positive-for-steroids-french-report
Since we also have this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/85072693/dan-carter-joe-rokocoko-fail-drug-tests-but-cleared-for-banned-substance–agent-says
So how about instead of jumping to a conclusion based on your own particular dislike of rugby you wait until more information comes to hand…
If your agent doesn’t come to your defence you’d be wanting another agent damn quick.
So a newspaper reports something and that’s it? No need to look any further? If its printed it must be 100% correct?
Isn’t it amazing the amount of high performance athletes like Sharapova, Serena/Venus Williams, Tour de France cyclists, and all those olympic athletes who are all carrying debilitating medical conditions while competing at the highest level in sport. Thank god for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE’s) they must be thinking!
When you consider the amount of punishment their joints would take its not really, like imagine what its like to spend a couple of hours running up and a clay court, day after day and week after week, not counting the practice as well
Then consider the extra punishment players in contact sports take as well, like Dan Carter will be called on to stop 110kgs plus running at him time and time again, it makes sense that TUEs are allowed, in certain situations
However if its found they’ve broken the rules then they should be dealt with accordingly
No, it creates an avenue to cheat, and it’s obvious this is rife now for anyone who isn’t nieve. If you can take a substance that can enhance your performance some people will do that and take advantage of the rules.
If you don’t think that the increasing size of players and the amount of extra stress on joints means an increase in TUE then you are the one who is naïve
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/71656588/all-blacks-2015-world-cup-squad-make-the-class-of-87-look-like-figurines
“At 92kg, right wing John Kirwan was like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians during the 1987 Rugby World Cup, a physical anomaly. Seven of the All Blacks’ 12 backs weighed under 80kg.
To put things in perspective, Kirwan would have been four kilograms lighter than the average All Black back in the 2015 squad Fox helped select for this year’s World Cup.”
As long as what they players are doing are within the rules then its just another media beat up
All my comments are going into moderation again – just letting you know L
[thanks marty. It’s happening to a few of us – weka]
Thanks to the mods who have been working hard to release these caught comments, it’s a pain I know
+ 1 Yep Thanks so much
Indeed. I noticed after I’d released a very few. So I spent a few minutes to do a diagnosis of why it was happening.
It was a feature that I had turned off on the original install of Wordfence. However it is a valid and useful security measure against the odd fool that wants to indulge in identity theft, so this time around I’ll shift behavior.
I also want to reactivate the ability for established commenters to use logins if they wish to. It bypasses the issues that Anne and others have commented about with the blocked cookies not remembering the comment details. And I’m pretty sure that I can fix the issues with the damn bots seeking logins.
Bill Hicks on alcohol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmQIMMa-Io
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11724494
Bloody CV s been in New York i see.
Haha the guys who unfurled that flag have a very dry, very American sense of humour
“PEACEMAKER” indeed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army
That’s a pretty damn impressive move
Happy birthday Mr Putin, he’s 64 today.
Timing would have been spot on for morning news in Moscow
Here’s my student loan rant from a few days ago that i posted as a comment to one of the contributors on a series about student loans on stuff.co.nz.
I just thought it contained some good valid points and maybe could provoke some more intelligent debate about a scheme that’s clearly very dysfunctional and unegalitarian and stuff rarely sees any good analysis, just emotive and nasty snide comments:
This article on stuff I’m responding to sounds like it was written by a right wing think tank policy person perhaps representing The New Zealand Business Roundtable or their new name ‘The New Zealand Initiative’.
The writer is however correct about one thing which is that the responsibility for the paying of a much larger proportion of tertiary education has been switched from the taxpayer and placed on to the shoulders of students themselves unlike any other previous generation in New Zealand which did not have to endure this (which includes many current and former National Party politicians who benefited from previous schemes but instituted this one)
The systemic problem with this scheme is that in a deregulated neo-liberal environment in New Zealand today where jobs are scarce, wages are low and not only not keeping pace with productivity but with the disestablishment of the requirement of employers to conclude collective bargaining means that students with student loans struggle to pay them back at all.
Now couple this economic environment with a student loans scheme that has a much lower repayment threshold (NZ$18,000) than several other developed European countries including Australia (about $40,000) and interest placed on top of this if you are forced to work overseas because getting a job in New Zealand was much harder than anticipated and you have a recipe for inter-generational debt ultimately causing poverty.
The working overseas after 6 months (184 days) category is particularly punitive in that it doesn’t take into account the borrowers income at all but simply states that you must pay for example $5000 per year if your loan is over $50,000. That amount of payment (if you can afford it) barely covers the interest for one year and at that rate it would take more than 100 years to pay it off.
The Student Loans scheme as it stands now is simply unworkable, unsustainable, punitive and generally unfair. To effectively create a ‘tax switch’ from taxpayers to students via a right wing ideological ‘userpays’ system (in order to keep other tax rates such as corporate tax at a much lower level than they should be) we are ‘building in’ inter-generational inequity, poverty, and homelessness.
Working exactly as designed then.
Sir Ngatata Love immediately appeals two-and-a-half year jail sentence for deceiving trust
So, does he lose his knighthood for this deception?
Maybe. Thinking of precedent, what happened with Carrick Graham’s ex-MP father Doug in the end?
We shouldn’t have to wonder. A crime of such deception, of such fraud should be an automatic loss of the knighthood.
Quite, but look at the dodgy pricks who get to decide.
Graham didn’t lose his knighthood because the conviction wasn’t for something he deliberately set out to do. Was more about failing to take reasonable care. Love, on the other hand, is a different story. Unless there’s a successful appeal he’s likely to lose his knighthood.
Ta. Couldn’t remember how that played out.
I’m not forgiving him or excusing him but I feel very sad about this. Sad it happened and has come to this conclusion.
The Kiwi CEO of ANZ Bank has pledged to look at cutting credit card rates and apologised for failing customers on day two of a parliamentary committee review critics say is increasingly playing out a familiar, sorry, and soft, script.
Echoing comments yesterday from Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev, Shayne Elliott told the second day of the hearings into the big four banks his industry had lost touch with its customers, was full of apologies for past wrongdoings by ANZ, and promised to do better.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/banking/news/article.cfm?c_id=126&objectid=11723790
https://youtu.be/fRh_vgS2dFE
Well, thank goodness for Colonial Viper and Paul.
People tell me I’ve lost all sense of discernment and logic, but so be it 🙂
Au contraire CV , I find your discernment and logic far superior to those that decry you.
Well, you’d be wrong because CV frequently makes logically fallacious arguments.
well, I prefer to refer to them as “logically flexible” arguments, but suit yourself.
Logical fallacies aren’t “flexible”. If you have make logically fallacious arguments in order to prove your point it means your point isn’t valid and you need to start again
How do you people even cope with the 96.79% of human behaviour which isn’t remotely logical or rational?
Because 96.79% of life isn’t spent forming and defending arguments on The Standard. If I go the shop and buy something I don’t expect nor receive the following:
“$4.50 for bread, that’s a bit steep.”
“Yeah but Hillary is a misogynist”
Talking to you here, however, the preceding is pretty standard issue.
Well the super smart super logical super accurate left wing must be winning everywhere
And your response is a non-sequitur, surprising no one.
Get a grip man.
You are most gracious, sir.
Thanks Garibaldi
I am inclined to agree with Garibaldi. CV has never praised Trump as far as I remember: he admits all Trump’s failings, but then gets into trouble by trying to warn you that Hillary may well be worse. He has not praised Trump, but gets accused of doing so for criticising Hilary. Sorry..
Given the confused state of things – especially, it seems , of the USA electorate, it would not surprise me if Trump did win. That does not mean I want him to.
Given the hostile trolls that spend endless time in disrupting discussion on this site, I echo Garibaldi’s praise of CV and Paul.
Alex Jones – a character as ever – decries Hillary Clinton using a minor and child actor as a political tool in a town hall meeting to further her campaign’s attack narrative on Trump
The most interesting part about this segment is watching how Hillary Clinton lies to the entire crowd by pretending to be surprised and delighted by a ‘random question’ that she knew was coming, and which was probably written for the child actor.
https://youtu.be/ceJldaor7nI?t=255
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cUnCtQ8mMc
Pretty weak cv, goodness next thing trump will be asking the terminally Ill to hold on a bit and give him their vote but I doubt even he’d sink that low and desperate eh.
Trump has been telling people for ages that lying down terminally ill on their death bed is not an excuse to not go out and vote on Nov 8
Oh
Yes he did sink that low usually gleefully, and with a smile and laughs from the different crowds
Why Russia Is Preparing For The Worst RIGHT NOW!
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/deteriorating-relations-between-russia.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDpBkTE476Y
16 out of 23 Obamacare non-profit insurance co-ops have failed, US$1.7B in Federal loan money lost in failed bureaucracies
Only 7 of the original non-profit 23 health insurance provider co-ops remain solvent.
Obama’s signature health insurance initiative is becoming increasingly crippled by the month.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2016/07/25/obamacares-co-op-disaster-an-unfunny-comedy-of-errors/#4a19a2cec91f
My thoughts on being a candidate in this year’s (admittedly rather lack-lustre) local body elections.
I will also say that if the media had spent less time telling everyone how poor turnout was going to be, and more time analysing candidates in their regions, we might have had a more interesting campaign overall.
http://anthonyrimell.com/blog/25-there-and-back-again