Open mike 08/03/2025
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6:00 am, March 8th, 2025 - 96 comments
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- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #16 2025
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications: Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...2 hours ago - Whatever Happened to Cactus Kate?
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Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...3 hours ago - David Seymour’s Charter School Rort
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...3 hours ago
- Flexibility and awareness will help India deal with Trump (again)
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The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...5 hours ago - Climate Change: Kicking the can down the road again
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...6 hours ago - The Spirit for Australia: why Canberra should pursue the B-2 bomber
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...7 hours ago
- A bit more unpicking of RB spending and the Funding Agreement
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- Brown unveils unfunded health plan for small NZ
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- Gordon Campbell On The Left’s Electability Crisis, And The Abundance Ecotopia
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- China targets Canada’s election—and may be targeting Australia’s
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- Climate Adam: Climate Scientist Reacts to Elon Musk
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- Rattus Interneticus: Otago’s Internet Saga
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I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...1 day ago
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- World Domination
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“It's a history of colonial ruin, not a history of colonial progress,” says Michele Leggott, of the Harris family.We’re talking about Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris, in which she and Catherine Field-Dodgson recall a near-forgotten and fascinating life, the female speck in the history of texts.Emily’s ...5 days ago - Fact brief – Is the sun responsible for global warming?
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- Release: Boot camps blog post fails to provide clarity
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...6 hours ago - Release: Inflation rises and families feel the squeeze
Inflation is rising again and it’s landing hardest on families already stretched thin. ...7 hours ago
- Release: Govt doesn’t know how to fund new hospitals
The Government’s health infrastructure plan is big on promises but coy on where the money is coming from. ...1 day ago
- Release: $10 million for only 215 students in charter schools
David Seymour is pouring $10 million into charter schools that only have 215 students enrolled. ...1 day ago
- Release: Food prices further stretching the family budget
Families already stretched by rising costs will struggle with the news food prices are going up again. ...2 days ago
- Release: Mental health staff and patients at risk without plan
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...3 days ago
- Release: Driver licensing proposal doesn’t put safety first
The Government’s proposal to change driver licensing rules is a mixed bag of sensible and careless. ...3 days ago
- Release: Students struggling as Govt sits on hands
The Government is continuing to sit on its hands as students struggle to pay rent due to delays with StudyLink. ...6 days ago
- Release: More must be done to stop children going hungry
More children are going hungry and statistics showing children in material hardship continue to get worse. ...6 days ago
- Greens continue to call for Pacific Visa Waiver
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...6 days ago - More children going hungry under Coalition govt
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...6 days ago
- Release: Longer wait for treatment under National
New Zealanders have waited longer to get an appointment with a specialist and to get elective surgery under the National Government. ...6 days ago
- Ka mate te Pire- Ka ora te mana o Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te iwi Māori
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...7 days ago
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Ka mate te pire I te rā neiThe bill dies today ...1 week ago
- Ka mate te Pire, ka ora Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty Principles Bill dead, Te Tiriti o Waitangi m...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...1 week ago
- Member’s Bill an opportunity for climate action
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Bill to make trading laws fairer passes first hurdle
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: Reserve Bank acts while Govt shrugs
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...1 week ago
- Release: Property Law Amendment Bill pulled from ballot
A Bill to protect first home buyers and others from bad faith property vendors has been drawn from the Member’s Ballot. ...1 week ago
- Release: More children at risk of losing family connections
Karen Chhour is proposing to scrap Oranga Tamariki targets which aim to connect more children under state care with family and their culture. ...1 week ago
- Release: David Parker made a difference – Hipkins
The Labour Leader today acknowledged and celebrated David Parker’s 23-year contribution to the Labour Party and to Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: David Parker to step down from Parliament
Long-serving Labour MP and former Minister David Parker has today announced his intention to leave Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: Flaws in Govt’s climate strategy will cost us money
The Government’s plan to achieve our climate goals falls short, and will cost New Zealanders money and jobs. ...1 week ago
- Green Party differing view on the Treaty Principles Bill
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- Te Pāti Māori Urges Governor-General to Block Repeal of 7AA
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Abortion care quietly shelved amid staff shortage
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt guts Kāinga Ora, third of workforce under axe
The gutting of Kāinga Ora shows public housing is not a priority for this Government as it removes a third of the roles at the housing agency. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Thousands of submissions excluded from Treaty Principles Bill report
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Uncertainty remains over the impact of tariffs
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Worst February for building consents in over a decade
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour supports Willie Apiata’s selfless act
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori MPs Denied Fundamental Rights in Privileges Committee Hearing
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt health and safety changes put workers at risk
Changes to New Zealand’s health and safety laws will strip back key protections for small businesses and put working Kiwis at greater risk. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Kiwis worse off this April thanks to Govt choices
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Three more years for Interislander ferries
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Myanmar junta must stop the airstrikes
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National failing to deliver on supermarkets
National is paying lip service to its promises to bring down the cost of living, failing to make any meaningful change in the grocery sector. ...3 weeks ago
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- Bad news – why Australia is losing a generation of journalists
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Get ready for a week of white male suited squillionaires gabbing about the state highways and schools they want to build, operate, and rent back to us.
Guarantee not so much as half a sentence devoted to a common good for our people and our land.
How often do PPP's need to be proven to be a disaster for taxpayers and a licence to print money for the rich list before they are ditched?
Re the Deloitte NZ Health report.
New Health Minister Simeon Brown, possibly near wetting himself over the perceived justification for NAct1's slash/burn….
Having personally worked in a Hospital..and other large Companies, I could well see so called some Managers as being inept arse coverers.
Any of them now looking for jobs? (Of course they are adept at looking out for Number 1)
Well…thats his take on it. Anyone else with input views on the Deloitte Report?
is it a NAct1 friendly paid policy promotion? For justification?
There will always be some sort of 'justification' for the enacting of one's ideological views, which can apply across the political spectrum. Although some parties more than others.
It still comes back to both priorities in spending (eg tax cuts) vs the good of society at large.
I continue to hold the voters who wanted a RW government- and non-voters- responsible for this. They cannot say they weren't warned.
Hi thanks for input. And yea same re those voters. What were they thinking? Or just not…..
NZers (Not the 1%, who will gain $millions) are going to suffer from all of this.
We all knew they have a problem with IT, faxes in from the HB's during COVID.
But who knew they did their accounts on excel spreadsheets.
"Lost control of spending' … what does that mean?
Not rationing demand/health need within budget?
That might be because they have seriously run down primary health, no new patients, wait weeks … have hospitals take in people when they are at the health emergency stage.
Thanks for input. And yea that "excel spreadsheets" ?!
Anyway, I certainly see Simeons smirking about the justification as precursor for major privatisation ….(which IMO was always the plan)
The reality..Onya Fleur !
And the Vested Interest….$$$$$
Had a wry smile at this…
Also had a wee look at Mr Roxborough's Health experience and/or Medical background.
Unsurprisingly its Money Health he majors in…..
It was all about Covid of course.
Other public health services, such as the one in the UK, have been under major stress since Covid. It takes a few years to recover from a global pandemic.
And of course Labour's sensible reforms of the health service will save money and improve delivery but that too will be down the track.
Thanks for input. Yep. A little thing like a….Global Pandemic. Fuck knows where we would have been with NAct1 in control then….
And…as links show, slash/burn and privatisation is where they want to go. American style Health Insurance to follow $$$$$.
Fark.
This is another of those things that restores your faith in the goodness of Americans. Plain, hard-working, decent Americans that is, as distinct from the political class, which ignores them. The Californian movement Taxpayers Against Genocide is going after those politicians…
Yes most of the Americans I know are great people. I do know a Trump supporter too, who is slightly crazy. The US propaganda environment is making many of them insane and divorced from reality.
Well, I'm sure it makes them feel very virtuous, if nothing else. Here's the problem, though: Israelis don't care what you or some horseshoe-theory leftists in California or the UN or various media companies or pretty much anyone else think of them, they're not going to cease to exist and they're also not going to quietly co-exist with neighbours who want to kill them. So, unless you and the Taxpayers Against Genocide have some solution to offer that doesn't involve hand-waving those things away, you're wasting your time and effort huffing and puffing about it.
Well, I'm sure it makes them feel very virtuous, if nothing else.
Virtuous? Yes, they are of course but I don't think they feel especially virtuous. I'd say they feel motivated by deep anger at the corrupt and anti-democratic American political scene. They're just decent citizens who are opposed to politicians illegally funding and supporting a genocidal state.
Here's the problem, though: Israelis don't care what you or some horseshoe-theory leftists
"Horseshoe-theory"? Oh yes, that's the brilliant insight that people who fight against Nazis are themselves Nazis. It was a frequent taunt flung at anti-police protestors after the murder of George Floyd. Do you employ it as often as you employ the equally insightful terms "whataboutism" and "woke"?
in California or the UN or various media companies or pretty much anyone else think of them
If they don't care, why is their government and its apologists trying to intimidate protestors and shut down any criticism of its crimes? Even wearing a keffiyeh is a threat to these fanatics.
The state of Prussia was formally disestablished after World War II. The Southern Confederacy is no more. The apartheid state of South Africa is no more. The Soviet Union is no more.
What makes you think that this particular pariah state, which only exists as long as the U.S. political class continues to support it, can last forever? How long do you give it? A thousand years?
David Cumin is a New Zealander living in New Zealand just like you or me. Jewish New Zealanders care about expressions of Jew-hatred in New Zealand because of-course-they-fucking-do-what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you? And the video you posted includes Cumin explaining that no it was not about someone wearing a keffiyeh.
The fact that you call a country a pariah state or falsely claim that it can only exist as long as the US supports it (read some history if you're going to pontificate about this, ffs) doesn't mean it's going to disappear anytime soon. Jews have lived there for thousands of years, don't expect that to change, however hard you wish for it.
Jews have lived there, but their political structures have often been conquered or demolished over the ages
You can tell them they have no claim to the land if you like, but they won't pay any more attention than the Arabs would if you told them they have no claim to the land (their political structures having been conquered/demolished).
The Syrians seem pretty happy to be rid of Assad. I view Netanyahu as a similar breed of violent thug
You can view elected officials in liberal democracies any way you like, but it doesn't make them remotely similar to Bashir al Assad.
Israel is a "liberal democracy" in the way that Franco's Spain, apartheid South Africa, Jim Crow Alabama, and Pinochet's Chile were liberal democracies.
https://therealnews.com/mblumenthal1023raipt1
Yeah, well, that also is just like, your opinion, man.
To most of the world Israel is a state within its 1949 borders, yet to make peace with those seeking to form a state in the rest of the area west of the Jordan.
As a somewhat flawed democracy (as are all).
The occupation (and since 1977 settlement), since 1967 of land beyond its recognised borders is by Israel, but is not within Israel and its state.
David Cumin is a New Zealander living in New Zealand just like you or me.
He's an apologist for Israeli genocide. He's not like me: I don't support the Israeli Occupation Force murder squads in Gaza or the illegal settlers that daily—actually, nightly—carry out pogroms in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The rest of your incoherent, angry tirade is noteworthy only because of your continued insistence on equating that outlaw pariah state with Jewish people.
https://mondoweiss.net/2023/06/israelism-documentary-focuses-on-young-jews-change-of-heart/
True. Great movie, made by the Coen Brothers, a couple of outstanding Americans…
I'm sorry, am I supposed to give a shit what Hollywood celebrities think about something?
They're not just "Hollywood celebrities." They're Jewish film-makers speaking out in support of another Jewish film-maker who dared to speak out against the genocide in Gaza.
They're people who share your opinion. Well, fair enough, no doubt such people exist. I'm not sure what conclusion anyone's meant to draw from it though.
Particularly enjoyed Plunkett first referring to the keffiyeh as a 'Hamas Tea Towel', bringing on Cumin to say that's entirely correct and raise the specter of map iconography, and then questioning the apparent amount of connivance involved in council photography.
I don't expect Plunkett or anyone else to show any respect for symbols of terrorism. Any Arabs who want to complain that the keffiyeh isn't actually a symbol of the PLO should take it up with the estate of Yassir Arafat.
The Muslim belief that Israel must be destroyed and replaced with an Arab Muslim state is anything but "map iconography." Multiple wars have been fought over it and tens of thousands of people have been killed for it.
Very good. I don't expect Plunkett to express respect for any kind of symbols either actually, I'm pretty sure he doesn't respect any kind of symbols when it suites his purposes to denigrate them. He was there however attempting to connive with his guest an accusation levelled at Dunedin council which he later raises over 'map iconography'.
Important though 'map iconography' may be, apparently Plunkett didn't notice the problem to begin with, or raise any problem which Cumin was actually sensitive to before the discussion. This places him in exactly the same position as most of the public and probably the people creating the images for the Dunedin council.
I have no doubt whatsoever that Cumin is a lot more sensitive than Plunket is to NZ city councils using ratepayers' money to promote symbols of Jew-hatred, for fairly obvious reasons.
Enough already with your mulish "Jew-hatred" canard. Are the thousands of New York Jewish protestors who shut down Grand Central Station in protest against Israel's continued mass murder in Gaza guilty of "Jew-hatred"?
Is Ken Roth guilty of "Jew-hatred"? Is Amy Goodman?
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/3/gaza_ethnic_cleansing_trump_palestine_israel
Israel better stop annexing Palestine or they are going to end up with an antisemitic symbol for their countries geography quite soon. Will the remaining
PalestiniansArabs be allowed to wear a representation of their country at that point?Typical, Plunkett does not know the PLO origins of it.
Hamas has yet to join the PLO.
Plunkett's lack of knowing anything is not actually relevant. Keffiyeh were worn and already symbols of Palestinian resistance, well before the existence of a PLO. Unsurprising that Yassir Arafat would style himself that way, though he was far from original in this style. Psycho just thinks Israel should be entitled to decide what Palestinian's are allowed to wear.
AI seems to get their info on this from here
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/06/1216150515/keffiyeh-hamas-palestinians-israel-gaza
Maybe the AI should read the whole link then, it says just as I said.
If you think AI said otherwise, you did not check.
I haven't and wouldn't claim that. You can dispute what I'm saying without being dishonest with it. And it was the PLO that made the keffiyeh famous as a symbol of murderous Jew-hatred and is the reason people wear it.
We can add to wanting to control what Palestinians wear, also wanting to control who the leaders of Palestine are allowed to be.
made the keffiyeh famous as a symbol of murderous Jew-hatred and is the reason people wear it.
You know of course that every time you, or someone like you, posts a flagrant falsehood like that, it subtracts even further from any authority you might have had. You make a fool of yourself almost every time you say anything.
Time to stop for a while and recharge the old Psycho Miltonian batteries, methinks. Maybe do some reading—serious reading, not listening to Sean Plunket—for a while?
There’s a good fellow.
Thanks for that post Morrissey….restores one's faith in human nature…..the COC is complicit by saying nothing about this.
I still think the Dems could have won the election with a principled stand on Gaza but Biden was way too old and stuck in his "Jews vote democrat" rut. Harris should have but failed to dump this pro genocide policy.
Russia is ready for peace.
/
Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land and sea, and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine's air force said, adding the target was the country's natural gas extraction facilities.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-08/russia-attacks-ukrainian-energy-facilities-in-missile-attacks/105026324
Russia was ready for peace three years ago. That's why the U.S., in a panic, sent its envoy of death Boris Johnson to Istanbul to threaten and cajole Zelensky into pulling out of negotiations with Russia.
"Russia was ready for
peaceUkraine's surrender three years ago"FIFY
Your snide attempt at a quip can't change the fact that Ukraine was in peace talks with Russia, and that Boris Johnson sabotaged those talks by threatening and cajoling President Zelenskyy.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have paid the ultimate price for Johnson's anti-diplomacy.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kremlin-2022-ukrainian-law-bans-zelenskyy-talks-putin-119468131
Yes, it took time, and of course Russia, like any state, is fond of obstruction and game-playing. But the fact remains: Zelenskyy was holding peace talks a few weeks after the Special Military Operation began. Boris Johnson, at the behest of the U.S., was flown urgently to Istanbul in order to sabotage those talks.
The issue is covered here.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/12/zelenskyy-rejects-claim-boris-johnson-talked-him-out-of-2022-peace-deal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_negotiations_in_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Post the failure of talks, Putin's and Ukrainian positions were far apart (2024).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_negotiations_in_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
So what we witnessed with our own eyes three years ago didn't happen? Boris Johnson did not fly urgently to Istanbul? He didn't threaten and cajole President Zelenskyy into sticking with his "protectors" in Washington and Whitehall?
No surprise to see that such a lame attempt to spin this story appeared in the Guardian, which is effectively an organ of the British state. Its anti-Russian bias is notorious. You are no doubt aware the paper was a relentless purveyor, with the New York Times and the BBC, of the ridiculous Russiagate conspiracy theory.
Are you really still calling Russia's Invasion a special military operation?
That was the original Russian term for it. But I agree with you that it's now developed into a real war. A proxy war, of course. As that brave South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham said: "when we said we wanted to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian, we meant it."
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1769956089183846548
please fix your username.
That is rather good, at the same time terribly sad.
The USA was happy to fight Hitler down to the last European. At least they are consistent.
FDR only won re-election in 1940 by promising not to enter the war in Europe (neither the Irish, nor WASP Republicans wanted it).
Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and then Germany declared war on the USA first.
Then you can dive into the questions around did the president know about the attack on pearl harbour before it happened..?
..and allowed it to happen..because he knew it would drag america into the war…which is what he wanted…?
What is known is he wanted to be on the right side of history, regardless of popular opinion.
1.while Japan was occupying Korea and parts of China – sanctions
2.while Germany was occupying other nations in Europe and parts of Russia – lend lease to the UK to pass onto Russia.
Then, merely means another baseless attack option is then available.
That is not what Senator “Gramm” said, it was how someone else phrased his position – Arnaud Bertrand.
Arnaud Bertrand was not paraphrasing him or reconstructing his ugly words from memory. He quoted him.
The flabby old chickenhawk had the gall to travel to Kiev and admonish young Ukrainians who do not want to sacrifice themselves for people like him:
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1769956089183846548
https://x.com/JPfaff1028/status/1871675750593794513?lang=pt
Where is the quote from then? Neither Bertrand nor Pfaff gave a source.
I have found this.
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-condemns-us-senator-grahams-comments-death-russians-2023-05-28/
Sorry, SPC, I can't find a smoking gun in this case. I concede your point. What does stay beyond any doubt, however, is that Lindsey Graham is an absolutely despicable individual.
Glenn Greenwald sums him up perfectly in May last year: "Lindsey Graham is the single most sociopathic, deranged, weak war-monger in all of Washington, constantly telling not only Americans but also Ukrainians to go and fight and die more in wars that he himself won't get near."
https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1794388020910825575
https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1794388020910825575/photo/1
Gramm is known for
1.opposing Trump and then surrendering to his capture of the GOP.
2.being a strong advocate of Ukrainian resistance to Russian annexation of Ukrainian land and then saying Yelensky should resign and that Ukraine does not deserve American support while he is leader – all because he spoke truth in the White House.
That he poses all of this (in turn) as America first is how he sends up himself.
Zelenskyy always insisted that the Russians return to their own borders as a condition of any peace, and been rejected. Putin was unwilling to accept such terms evidently. His terms were that Russia be permitted to hold Crimea, and annex the Donbas oblast and Southern Ukraine.
This would be the substance, I think, of Zelenskyy's claim to have offered to engage in peace talks. Still, I could be wrong..
Remembering international Women's day, https://archive.is/wDUer
Because nothing says respect quite like the continuing exploitation of a vulnerable child.
/
When the photograph was first published in 1985 and the magazine circulated to millions of readers worldwide, it had only one sentence about her (besides the original caption, ‘Haunted eyes tell of an Afghan refugee’s fears’). It said her eyes were “reflecting the fear of war”.
This is false, Northrup says. The fear in her eyes is that of a student interrupted at school by a male stranger invading her space, her personal boundaries and her culture and leaving without even having learned her name.
McCurry and National Geographic would sell the picture for enormous amounts. Steve McCurry Studios prices their open edition 20″ x 24″ print of Sharbat Gula for $18,000 (Rs 12.8 lakh). Larger prints have been sold for as much as $178,900 at auctions.
Until their return for the follow-up story in 2002, Sharbat Gula received nothing.
https://thewire.in/media/afghan-girl-steve-mccurry-national-geographic
It's a powerful image of the difficult lives of women around the world.
Nice attempt at distraction and shooting the messenger though.
There are millions of images portraying the difficult lives of women around the world yet you chose one that's been shown to have exploited a young woman.
And your reaction to being called on your poor choice is to have a sook?
ffs
/
If you delve into anything deep enough you'll find moral quandaries.
shallow
/
https://www.vladsokhin.com/work/crying-meri/
Well said joe90. I remember the fuss when the true story behind the picture came out.
But surely journalists should never let truth come in the way of a good story and a pretty picture? (sarc)
For the TS commentator who loves to link articles from The Centrist, here's information about the owner of this site, the Canadian billionaire James Grenon, living in Takapuna for the last decade. He has now on sold it to another billionaire, because he's busy trying to roll the board of NZME for his own appointees, after he picked up a 10% stake in it recently.
“Centrists” are always a waste of space. The title should have raised immediate suspicions.
The TOP party comes to mind.
The cancellation of this UN conference (on the rights of Palestinians under Israeli military occupation) might relate to this
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/republicans-trumpet-judea-and-samaria
It might only be a "Gulf of America" renaming the WB, Judea and Samaria, but it could also be an end to recognition of a Palestinian state.
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/neutral-switzerland-cancels-un-conference-after-israeli-pressure
Preparing the way for something more … the land of free speech is cutting funds to universities that allowed protests at the collective punishment of Gaza civilians.
Would it be to ensure no protests at renaming the WB Judea and Samaria, or ending recognition of a Palestinian state (so the USA gets Gaza … once a land without a people and Israel gets … once a land without non Jewish voters).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/donald-trump-cuts-millions-in-grants-from-columbia-university-over-anti-semitism-claims/OVOJF6T6ZFETZLJVYVDB245564/
I'd phrase it more like "cutting funds to universities that allow the Muslim diaspora to promote its virulent antisemitism within the university."
So when thousands of people, Jewish and non-Jewish, protest against an American-sponsored genocide, it's "virulent antisemitism" is it?
You need to explain a little more convincingly than you have managed so far.
Bollocks psycho.
Let's see some truth of that from genuine links.
Who is as appalled as I am about the huge waste of 400k of rate-payers money being tipped on the toilet on Restoring fhe fugly Chalice in Cathedral square.
Not much more is being done than giving it a sand-blast, a lick of paint and a bit of LED lighting. How that could cost 400k is hard to see.
From a left wing perspective, imagine how much could have been done with that money to help the needy. And I would have preferred that as well. And, even more, sell the thing for scrap metal and use that for the needy as well.
You will have to tell us precisely how appalled you are before we can find out any equally or more appalled parties. If you want some unsolicited advice, go for I'm so appalled I could not care less, and then literally everyone is at least as appalled as you.
let it tarnish and corrode as a symbol of the polycrisis.
The problem with selling and using the money for the needy is that it's a bottomless pit, with the government currently shooing people to the edge of the hole who will eventually fall in. We need system change not crumbs of charity.
$400K is a lot of money, but it's not that much. Maybe use it to kickstart some social housing that is collectively owned and never sold.
the purpose of modern art is to troll people
From a left wing perspective, public art confirms and enriches public spaces ..
… and like anything else public they need maintenance $$$ spend in them.
FIFY
I'd completely agree with this if we lived in a society that was leftist. The dilemma is how to prioritise art in a neoliberal society that is making people poor by design.
Your language is always demeaning and disrespectful. I, like a lot of other people on this site, work hard at crafting serious and coherent messages. You dismissingly call me a "troll"? What a joke.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Phil made a comment about Peters and Luxon and Trump. You replied saying,
and then the thread derailed.
Sorry, I was too impulsive. Not for the first time, I must regretfully note.
if you are commenting from a phone, the name field retains the typos. Please edit the last 2 comments within the editing window, then fix for your next comment.
Thanks for that weka!
I haven’t mastered the pseudo-intellectual and passive-aggressive fob-offs that are your MO.
A troll is what a troll does.
Stop diverting and stop with the belligerence, it’s self-demeaning and disrespectful to the others here, particularly to Authors who make an effort to raise an issue that you simply hijack and trample all over with your cringey snobbery.
Possible redrawn electorates boundaries coming out soon. The irony would be delicious if Epsom disappeared.
Are ACT “guaranteed” to get over 5%?
IMO, sadly yes National's psychopathic offspring will be able to survive even if fate removes it's birthing box.
And so it begins.
The slowing of the northerly current in the Atlantic, the Gulf Stream, the AMOC system and then us.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/08/scientists-predict-nz-will-get-drier-northern-australia-wetter/
Peters should employ a special envoy to WTA and play a round of golf with DJT and let him win, of course. That should appease the King.
She is too good for this petty nation we have become
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1RJrWneD78/
Three generations of Poles have an axe to grind.