Besides lying and breaking the law, how far will the National Government and our state forces go to please our US ally?
Will John Key and our military leaders condemn our Afghan interpreters and their families to certain death?
Will our courts without hearing the evidence against him, condemn Kim Dotcom to prison conditions which may well constitute torture under the UN conventions against torture?
Just last week Juan Mandez the UN Rapporteur on Torture came out with a statement against the extradition of suspected Islamist terrorists to the US because they will be subjected to a type of incarceration that risks being constituted as torture under the UN conventions against torture.
….. the solitary confinement they will be put in, the lack of communication they will be under, their ability to do anything there, may well constitute torture under the UN torture convention.
“People cannot be sent to the United States because they will be tortured in US custody.”
Michael Ratner President emeritus of the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York and chair of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin.
Should Dotcom be worried that these conditions will be imposed on him?
Going by the anti-terror tactics used in his arrest and the secret anti-terror organisations that have been deployed against him. The chances are more than even, that Kim Dotcom will find himself in an underground cell under 23 hour solitary confinement in ADX Florence.
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
and these drones, 1000’s of associated civilian deaths from Drone Strikes. So sad that it has come to this.
The US now has laws which enable indefinite military detention without charges or trial of anyone deemed (either in secret or publically) to be a national security risk.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s busy agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.
At issue in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons is the first-sale doctrine in copyright law, which allows you to buy and then sell things like electronics, books, artwork and furniture as well as CDs and DVDs, without getting permission from the copyright holder of those products.
Under the doctrine, which the Supreme Court has recognized since 1908, you can resell your stuff without worry because the copyright holder only had control over the first sale.
Its what PC game makers have been trying to do for years. Kill the second hand market for PC games with copy protection (e.g. limited numbers of licence activations) in order to force people to buy new copies of games at premium prices.
But wait. If we need to recycle more, as the worlds raw material run out, then we need to
regulate materials better. If, as I believe, producers need to take responsibility for the waste,
then it follows that ownership in a object isn’t just the holder. This idea then is more in tune with
our per-industrial forebears, sole ownership of any property was essentially theft.
The whole idea behind legislation, its preventative effect, requires a invasion not so invisible
hand into the market place in order to direct the effects of the market towards social goods.
Away from slavery, serfdom…monopolies, regulatory capture (obviously our current regimes
are in denial about that particular one).
Information should be free, ideas should never be patentable (including genes).
The case stems from Supap Kirtsaeng’s college experience. A native of Thailand, Kirtsaeng came to the U.S. in 1997 to study at Cornell University. When he discovered that his textbooks, produced by Wiley, were substantially cheaper to buy in Thailand than they were in Ithaca, N.Y., he rallied his Thai relatives to buy the books and ship them to him in the U.S.
He then sold them on eBay, making upwards of $1.2 million, according to court documents.
haha, that’s funny.
Of course, what we’re actually seeing here is the actions of capitalism to control the market clearly showing that we do not have a free-market. And the reason why we don’t have a free-market is because capitalism would never survive in one.
BTW, reports are that the TPPA will ban parallel imports.
Watching Nigel Latta’s Darklands program last night was sad and depressing. It was about the circumstances that led to Nia Glassie’s death at the hands of her family in 2007. It looked at the broken families and the cycle of violence.
A question occurred to me… When did these broken dyusfunctional families come into existence? I understand how such dysfunctionality can arise and how difficult it is to break, but I don’t understand when this started. Using the Nia Glassie example, she was effectively killed by the Curtis brothers who were raised in an incrediblty violent household, especially from their father Bill Curtis.
So Bill Curtis must also have been raised in similar circumstances, I assume, following the accepted logic and wisdom around this issue. Bill Curtis looks like he would be a baby boomer, meaning he was born around 1950-60. His parents would therefore probably have been born around 1930-40. Did Bill Curtis’s parents start the cycle? Or was it their parents again?
What I am trying to ascertain is when this destructive feature arose in these families. Was it in the 1950s? Or was it in the 1930s? Or was it the generation prior to that? Once that is established the next questions would seem to be around what circumstances existed in NZ at that particular time to ignite this destruction..? When and what circumstances?
Hi vto – my personal theory is that a large number of men came back to NZ from WW2, put everything behind them , married, raised a family, worked hard etc. Many were severely traumatised and the effect on children was sometimes extreme. Just a theory.
It is a great question VTO and would be a fascinating study.
I am not sure it is a 20th century problem. Discipline, was mistaken for violence for generations. Society as whole decided to break the cycle of violent discipline in the second half of last century.
The Curtis family was more violent that most others, but having a father that beat the shit out of his kids for them spilling some milk was not uncommon at all. It was not considered dysfunctional.
I don’t think it began during any period. I think it ended as a result of the left campaigning against domestic violence.
Essentially child abuse and neglect has always been with us. The ‘idyllic’ 50s and 60s were also a time of widespread ‘stranger’ child adoption, fostered out children and private and state run childrens/teens homes and borstals often with violent cultures. Mental health care was institutionalised with little public scrutiny with elctro shock therapy–ECT and ‘chemical straightjackets’ being worse than some disorders. Priests and others charged with looking after kids were often happily kid fiddling away.
Corporal punishment was the norm, can you imagine todays school kids being repeatedly whacked with leather straps and canes? Poorer kids were effected more as ever, the government used to run health camps where disadvantaged kids would go for 6 weeks and be properly fed up. Some is family bred, the abused as modern research show often go on to abuse. Spousal assault was viewed by the Police as a domestic until recent times, rape in marriage was not considered possible again until recent times. So New Zealand has definitely a dark sadistic past and some of us maintain it is still there in some with the bennie bashing etc.
So while today there is more reporting and social work around abuse and public campaigns that have made a difference there is also more of the factors that promote child abuse. It can be about power too, alienated men and women rendered useless by unemployment and poverty lash out at the vulnerable and feel good about themselves for a small while in obviously the most twisted way.
Yes I watched it as well, and of being that age myself I’m 57 I noticed the same thing when growing up in England. Alcoholism mixed with PTSD and god knows what other mental problems after WWII and there were NO psychologists and very few Psychiatrists and the favoured form of Torture treatment was the Electro shock therapy where they fried your synapses and screwed with your memory. So of course people kept away from the Doctor and also it’s not the image of a Man in the 50’s&60’s to have mental problems. And of course this attitude has just been handed down from Father to son and it’s a destructive cycle.
edit:Damn The word Torture should have a strike through, for some reason it didn’t work.
Hmm, all interesting points. There is surely an element of the old school “discipline” hangover from colonists and other immigrants carrying over to the different norms of today. But it is seemingly more prevalent in polynesian families so how would that have transferred to them so viciously? I can understand how it has come about in families of british background but not how it has come about in the others, and when it comes to that when and how did it arise? We are told that it didn’t exist in pre-european maori society yet it exists today – when did that happen? In the generation of Bill Curtis’ parents born around 1930’s? Or the generations prior to that? 1930’s, 1950’s, 1910’s, 1880’s? When did it start? And then, why?
For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
-Pr 3:21
God Bless Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (“I Should Have Known”)
How to help bail out Australia with its refugee “problem” perhaps? ….and of course at the same time find a way of legitimising recent POINTLESS NZ legislation to do with those countless waves of “boat people/queue jumpers/illegals” we supposedly going to get.
Nearly missed this from yesterday. Hope Draco doesn’t mind but it seems important to me:
Draco T Bastard 26
9 October 2012 at 12:01 am
“Spin me a brain exchange”, said Dear Leader!
I offer this salient piece of advice to Dear Leader and the National Party; if we expect commitment from New Zealanders – then, as a nation, we must show commitment to our young folk, and to each other.
That involves old fashioned concepts and values such as pride in our country. Not just our flag or rugby team or latest successful movie by Peter Jackson – but pride in a nation that invests in each citizen with universal, free education; food in schools programmes; decent housing; comprehensive free healthcare for our young people; fair wages sufficient to raise a family on; everyone paying their taxes (no exceptions for capital gains, sorry), and ensuring that no one is left behind.
A simple clear statement of aspiration which would suit many, -I reckon.
In the last hour, Winston Peters has issued a press release saying he has evidence that the PM’s office knew about Dotcom earlier than previously stated. Key claims his staff didn’t pass the information on to him?
The Prime Minister confirmed in reply to a written question from New Zealand First that his office knew about Dotcom in July last year.
“In July 2011 one of my staff was advised by Hon Simon Power’s office by phone that Hon Power was declining an OIO [Overseas Investment Office] application from Kim Dotcom.
“This information was not conveyed to me as it was routine,” Mr Key said in his written reply.
It’s the headline story on TV3 6pm news, and Garner reckons it’s not good news for Key.
TV One News haven’t included it in it’s headline summary. It’s leading with the cuts to youth wage.
I’ve taken to recording the 6pm news on My freeview so I can switch between them, and stop and start – flick through the ads.
I would like to know what documentation Dotcom has got from Power in regard to OIO if any and what the documentation from OIO is to Power and Dotcom. As well if Key signed anything to do with the OIO regarding Dotcom.
Different story to what he said in Parliament,where he now has to make a personal statement.Which which will be the third statement ( 3 strikes).Winston if framed correctly can now call him a liar in parliament thanks to Lockwood’s ruling.
Of course the Right Honourable Prime Minister John Key (Knighthood Pending), would be constantly thinking of high level Philosophical Aspirations for his Gated Planet Key, and therefore the trivial matters like Growing Unemployment, National Security Mega-upload, and unobtrusive constituents such as Kim Dotcom would not dare to be referred to him.
Beggars belief John Key. Either Dishonest, or Incompetent. Choose one.
It’s called Plausible Deniability, a term first coined by the CIA. What Key and the GCSB are doing is taken directly out of their handbook:
In politics and espionage, deniability refers to the ability of a “powerful player” or intelligence agency to avoid “blowback” by secretly arranging for an action to be taken on their behalf by a third party ostensibly unconnected with the major player.
Yes. I can imagine Powers phone clerk in PM’s office. The clerk tells a special person. The special person tells Key in a lift or somewhere private. Key nods and says “I did not hear what you just said. Get it?”
The trouble with that is that the clerk knows Key knows.
If the staffer was Phil de Joux (as rumoured) then he would know not to tell Key.
Plausible deniability is more than just “I didn’t hear”, it’s having staff who know the drill in the first place. Those who have worked with Brand Key since he was in opposition (as de Joux has) would know automatically that protecting the Brand is paramount.
Now it begins to work against Key however, as it looks like what it is: a pattern of deliberate ignorance brought about by a strategy of active avoidance.
there’s a reason one-trick ponies are not regarded highly.
Oh, I’ll grant them it was a good trick for a couple of elections, but they need to pull finger and find something else doubleplus fast.
“No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?”
I’ve been thinking this for a while.
Key is very adamant he’d never heard of Dotcom before the raid. So I think there won’t be any evidence to contradict this claim, because he’ll have made sure there isn’t.
With 8 Countries involved and the number of NZ. Government agencies acknowledged by the FBI for their “substantial and critical assistance” it is difficult to believe that Mr Slip, Slide and walk away was oblivious to what was going on.
Yes Lanth. He has always been pretty smug about his denials. But if he was in total ignorance some one or people must have believed that it was wise for the PM to distance himself – at least on paper, records or any traceable means. Maybe a leak might appear eventually to explain the link that must have occurred?
Why. So that his office can decide if he needs to know. They are all paranoid gatekeepers of information. Same thing happened under Clark. Just cos Heather Simpson knew about things didn’t mean HC did.
Mickey I was comparing processes not people. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event. but even she did not know everything her office knew at all times. Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Perhaps. But once your boss is telling the country that he had never heard of Dotcom before the raid, then it’s certainly the flunky’s job to tell the boss: “Excuse me Sir, the office knew” – so the PM can stop giving hostages to fortune.
Unless, of course, the flunky has been told (directly or not) that such information should not be passed on, even after the fact.
I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event.
May have been a once in a generation event (I doubt it though as far too many people don’t get to sit in the spotlight to be able to tell) but I don’t think she was a micro-manager – she didn’t move into managing someone else’s responsibility unless that someone else fucked up. Just a manager that knew what she should have known.
Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
They filter it down to bite size pieces – they do not keep it from the person they work for.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions. You’re saying the boss gets to hear about absolutely everything the minions know, just in précis. Organisations don’t work that way, because i suspect we all know that huge amounts of information gets passed on between individuals for a range of reasons, but not all of it is useful. Can you say that every single email you’ve received this week contained something relevant to you?
No, but I can say that if my boss ever goes on TV and says he’s never heard of somebody, and I had previously had a phone call from a senior colleague about that somebody, then I would make damn sure I told my boss about it after he’d gone on telly. To save his blushes, or mine.
So … Did Key’s office tell him AFTER Dotcom became NZ’s Number One news story?. There is a gap of eight months between then and now – during which Key has said nothing about it … until today. Until he was forced to.
Your “hear about absolutely everything” line is classic evasion by hyperbole. It’s THE thing for Key, and has been since February. Why has he wanted not to know – or say?
If they thought that the Dotcom stuff was immaterial and Key did not have to know about it then it is difficult to know what he would have to know about.
I’ve called ministers offices plenty of times and passed on info I’ve had no expectation of them hearing at the time. I’m briefing the officials just in case something related comes up and they can use it if they see fit. In July 2011 kdc probably was irrelevant to the pm. I don’t disagree that since January something should have been said by one of his officials somewhere.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions.
Generally speaking, if it’s reaching the office of the PM then, at a guess, I’d say it was important enough for him to know about. He doesn’t need to know all the details but he does need to know about it. Sure, there’d be some that gets passed on to other ministers (wrong address) but stuff about intelligence operations would go to him.
There’s some confusion here- it was not an intelligence issue when either peters asked his question or powers office contacted keys. Your guess i think is wrong. Officials give each other heads ups all the time, just like peers in many organisations. That doesn’t mean the info is intended for the boss.
Bollocks insider. You’re not fooling anyone except yourself. When Simon Power contacted the PM’s office he was giving the PM a heads up on where things were at with Dotcom. That means he was given the information by a member of his staff.
John Key and his staff are indulging in “plausible deniability”. See Jackal @ 8.1.1.1
I wonder if the staff member was Captain Panic Pants?
They could have a the “Panic Pants Suit” on the wall for the next “Not John Key” meeting.
That way he’ll never forget 🙂
Diapers on the outside maybe M8!
The “Protocol” Grows M8!
Imagine the Bus ride to the Beehive!
Actualy I remember that, Wasn’t it John Key himself who allowed Dotcom to buy the mansion?
(i.e. Vetoed his minister)
Would’ve been a Herald Article of course.
If you are going to cry bollocks anne getting the facts right first would help your case. It was one of powers staff not power himself. That lowers the issue down the food chain quite significantly.
It came from Powers office, and went to the Prime Mincer’s office. Where is that picture of the monkey chiefs covering their eyes and ears when you need it.
That is probably the reason why he chose to inform the PM’s Office of his intention to deny Dotcom’s overseas investment application. And if that’s the case, then Key probably had some prior knowledge.
The fact is Power deliberated over Dotcom’s application for three months before making a decision. Is it believable that he didn’t discuss it with the PM at some point?
the US govt knows one thing for sure, having the growing middle east wars as a distraction allows all sorts of space for what you get up to at home. Remember, in the modern Amerika you are a suspected terrorist first and a citizen second.
“the extent that 1021(b)(2) purports to encompass protected First Amendment activities, it is unconstitutionally overbroad”
This ruling has been overturned, then an injunction was won, then a stay was put on the injunction, so now a whole bunch of other judges have been asked by the big boss man to secure the stay permanently and get his ‘lock em up then ask the questions’ law rolling nationwide. Sure it’s over in America so what does it matter right? Not like they are gonna start spying on kiwis, imprisoning people without charges, ask for troops on the ground or start flying Drone missions over here . . .
and business not looking too positive in the land of the long grey crowd either according to the daily fish and chip wrappings.
(sorry Prism, it was “Infidels” by Bob Dylan i keep forgetting to reference)
What a prophet dear Bob has been; The only international concert i have seen was Bob with Patti Smith at a stadium in Christchurch; Patti Smith, now she is as wonderful as Helen Kelly and Julie-Ann
(i am such a man)
-“The Minstrel In The Gallery….looked down upon the smiling faces…”
who read todays Dompost?
one story is about Annette King complaining to the speaker of the house about craig (hamburger) heatley giving incoherent mumbling replies to oral questions.
On the letters page one writer is complaining about Russell Norman getting too much time on teevee3.
Nashnil cant have it both ways.
If they put up up drawling bumblers on the floor of the house who cant make it in the world at large then tough luck.
From the foregoing survey of conspicuous leisure and consumption, it appears that the the utility of both alike for the purposes of reputability lies in the element of waste that is common to both.
In the one case it is a waste of time and effort, in the other it is a waste of goods.
“Theory of the Leisure Class”
-Thorstein Veblen; american economist and social scientist
Agreed, I’ve suspected this for some time now, hence all the belt tightening rhetoric.
2.34 years before some people will even start to rebuild their lives.
4.44 Years after the quake they start to rebuild.
And Brownlee is calling them ungrateful ……
What does this Gnat government actually do for us!.
There, sources report, Huawei readily admitted that it was undertaking such data interception and collection.
The ISS conference is an annual gathering of Middle East and African law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security telecom operators responsible for “lawful interception, electronic investigations and network intelligence gathering,” according to the ISS agenda. A similar event is scheduled from March 4-6, 2013, also in Dubai.
In its presentation, Huawei said that it had this capability using a particular technology called Deep Packet Inspection, or DPI.
DPI is the key technology in high capacity data interception and mining, according to the WND source who asked not to be named but attended the Huawei briefing.
WND has obtained a copy of Huawei’s DPI briefing.
While Huawei’s presentation of its DPI capability was meant to show how it protected Huawei-equipped networks by detecting malicious code, sources said that the very same technology “can be very effectively used to conduct widespread industrial espionage and breach national telecommunications security.”
While many of these techniques are not unique to Huawei, one only has to look at the CCP’s overtly totalitarian history vis a vis the internet (The Great Wall of China) to quickly conclude that they are wholly the authors of their own misfortune here.
But that can’t be real TRP, everyone knows cops are the best of the best doing the hardest most thankless job around for entirely altruistic reasons.
There’s no way the job would attract thugs and rapists and murderers, certainly not the kind of cowardly scum who would electrocute a man to death after they already had him in handcuffs.
+1
I remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia, she spoke of Helen Clark as “having been her role model.” Well, I could see Helen Clark standing there making exactly the same speech. Congratulations Julia.
I agree, but while Helen refused to engage with the vile misogyny that was directed at her (does anyone else recall the filth that was being email circulated in the months before the 2008 election?) … it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
Thanks for the link. My impression was that the Aussie house isn’t as shouty as the NZ one. Gillard delivers her ticking off emphatically – but it’s in the way it’s stated, and the body language.
The opposition front bench looks a glum ,rum, unimpressed and unimpressive lot.
And Gillard does something I don’t recall Helen Clark ever doing: she publicly and clearly calls out the leader of the opposition, opposition MPs and members of their party for some of the slurs they have directed at her personally. She calls them out for calling out to her in the House that she needs to be made “an honest woman”; she calls them out for the way they refer to her as a bitch and a witch.
That’s the way to do it – take them on in public. Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
That’s true Karol but I don’t think Helen had much choice. Most of the vitriol was being spread in bars, sports clubs, work-places etc. With the exception of the ‘childless’ barb, very little of it came out in the House or by way of the MSM. The ‘Alan Jones slur’ on the other hand gave Julia the opportunity to get stuck into all of them.
Most of the nasty stuff against Helen began very soon after she was selected to be the new MP for Mt Albert. She was extremely hurt by them, but because she didn’t know who was spreading them there wasn’t much she could do about it.
She did come out in public over the disgusting stories about her husband, Peter Davis but it didn’t stop her opponents from continuing to spread those stories.
Thanks for that. It makes complete sense. All I can say is that the slurs, the jokes and nastiness while obviously less personal and pointed for us than it was for HC, it was still nonetheless felt by many of us on the left as a malign, shameful episode in this nation’s history.
What I can tell you RedLogix is: most of the individuals who started the rumours lived in the locality, and they all ended up in ACT. Are you surprised?
these Youth Wages; occupational trenching.into Agricultural Colleges.
Low Wages.What is the incentive? only the stick of benefit sanctions.
Low Wages.What is the incentive for productivity?
Low Wages.What will the displaced boomers live on?
Low Wages.Will keep young people domestically dependent.
Targeting Beneath Vote Majority. How Slippery Is That?
that Lovely Sister Wendy and her Art Illustrations.
Pay It Forward
Traditionally Modern
these “niche schools”. I enjoyed the exploration of the Sikh School from Birmingham.
“not counter-productive to their children” the Head suggested.
They Teach All Faiths; Teachers of All Ethnicities and Religions
Think Kura. (that John Tamihere, his mouth is less disciplined than Hone; arrogant! Wow!)
As useful as a bucket of Dog Slobber – That’s our memory impaired leader – He and his Partys latest edition on the Jobs front. = $10,80/hr Jobs rate. Wooo Hooo economic Genius or what!
He and his fool minions have just handed all Fast Food Corparates a 33% profit increase on the wage bill they currently pay their young workers.
It’s a gift to companies already rolling about in a sea of excess cash. At the expense of the NZ worker.
One has to ask how desparate are these eejit Tories. And what else are they not telling an increasingly impoverished NZ public.
Bernie Monk rips John Key a new one for weaseling out of the effort to retrieve the Pike River dead. It’s a new personal worst in a month of lows for Johnny Sparkles and National may as well stop standing candidates in the West Coast for a generation or two.
“Mr Monk says he got the impression that the Pike River mine was no longer a priority for the Prime Minister – but told Mr Key that if he thinks that the issue will go away, it won’t happen”.
Weirdly, Stuff’s front page are reporting Key’s latest bout of forgetfulness under the headline “Pike recovery revisted”, but. hey, who needs sub editors these days?
I found this article by putting in the search engine ‘john key and bank of america’
It says that shonkey was the head of global forex at meryll lynch as they
transfered enough debt into the irish economy to completely wipe it out
along with the middle us classes and their homes.
Key started borrowing $380 million a week here in nz and i can remember
he was borrowing more than needed, ‘his reply from memory was that it
was ‘cheap money’,what he didn’t tell the tax payers of nz is that he has
substantial shares in the bank of america where he got those ‘nz’ loans.
From observations it seems that our ‘dear leader’ is steering nz in the
same direction as those economies he has overseen in his bankster days,
i would bet that he is still ’employed’ with them as a pm’s job is not a long
one, just long enough to cause a country immeasurable damage,there is a
concerning pattern emerging in correlation with what i have read.
Some good reading on www. mediawhore.co.nz.
Also bank of america bankrolls bathurst,so that is why the front bench
of the nacts are pushing the enviromentalist to back off court action,key
is ‘shonkey’ deep in this as well, what a ‘slippery’ slope, when we try to
deceive’ eh shokey.
I don’t think that Greens and Labour should jump in unequivocally to the Chinese-USA techno dispute. Back doors have been mentioned in the Chinese programs well Microsoft was accused of doing this. And as the USA is trying to flex its muscles over China we should be wary and try to remain neutral.
Unfortunately Australia feels threatened by its closer Asian neighbours and welcomes USA defence, there is a contingent in Darwin I think now, and as it aligns with the USA and we tend to integrate with Oz and sign up for TPP (all done in secret), it will be hard to think for ourselves if we ever get round to that.
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
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Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
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. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
With criticism from National piling on over the property market, the prime minister has detailed when the government will make housing announcements. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco Rizzi, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Western Australia Some Australians could be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within weeks. Amid the continued spread of the virus and emergence of highly contagious variants, the federal government has accelerated the start of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Australia’s Threatened Species Strategy — a five-year plan for protecting our imperilled species and ecosystems — fizzled to an end last year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Lecturer, General Dentist & PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Baby teeth, or milk teeth, act like lighthouses to guide the adult ones to their correct destination. A baby tooth will become wobbly and fall out because the adult tooth ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by Simon Coley, co-founder of All Good and Karma Drinks.Bananas are one of the ...
Tackling topics such as rugby and body image, Stuff’s latest podcast shines a much-needed light on Aotearoa’s complex relationship with masculinity, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black.I wasn’t sure what to think when two episodes of the new local podcast He’ll Be Right landed in ...
The Rainforest Alliance reveals that 68%* of Kiwis say the COVID-19 pandemic has made them more conscious about environmental and social sustainability issues. Seventy two percent* state that they have been trying to make more sustainable purchasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin University The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns ...
ANALYSIS:By Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path Two weeks after the storming of the US Capitol by the followers of his predecessor, in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer, Creative Writing & English Literature, University of Southern Queensland Described as “the world’s greatest storyteller”, Roald Dahl is frequently ranked as the best children’s author of all time by teachers, authors and librarians. However, the new film adaptation of ...
Peak housing body, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA) welcomes the updated Public Housing Plan announced today by Minister Woods, and the commitment by this Government to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis. The 8,000 additional homes are a significant ...
Having recently walked much of the South Island stretch of Te Araroa, Kirsten O’Regan reflects on the magnificent landscapes and interesting characters she encountered along the way.On our 36th day of walking, we climb through the fire-blackened hills above Ohau, stopping to examine heat-disfigured trail markers. Fresh green shoots have ...
Miss Torta in central Auckland is putting the spotlight on a snack that’s commonplace in Mexico, but until now relatively unknown in New Zealand.You’ve heard of a torta, but what is it, exactly? Well, depending on the cuisine it can mean a flatbread, cake, tart, sweet pie, savoury pie or ...
Two of three ministerial statements from the Beehive have been released in the name of the PM over the past two days. The more important, insofar as it involves political action that will affect the wellbeing of significant numbers of Kiwis, was the release of the government’s Public Housing Plan ...
Jacinda Ardern has reminded Labour MPs "ongoing vigilance" will be required in 2021 to avoid another Covid outbreak, admitting she held her breath over the summer break. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Pinged $65 for overstaying 10 minutes in a parking block? Put away your hard-earned cash and read this first.Hopefully, by now, I’ve already established myself at The Spinoff as the resident tightarse, determined to avoid all unfair and unnecessary punishments (see: oversize baggage charges). Today, I’m focusing my attention on ...
Nuclear weapons states and their allies risk reputational ruin if they flout a new UN Treaty, Carolina Panico argues The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will come into force this month, on January 22, 2021, turning nuclear weapons into illegal objects. It is an achievement that ...
How does one turn into a rabid extremist over the description of a children’s bike? Emily Writes looks at Facebook comments so you don’t have to.You’ve been there, I know it. You’re scrolling along, trying to avoid QAnon conspiracy theories and Trump apocalypse memes when a story catches your eye. ...
Joe Biden is now the President of the United States and many people across America and throughout the world will consequently be breathing more easily. But while the erratic, unpredictable and irresponsible years of the Trump Presidency may be over, ...
Tough border testing for New Zealand honey imports to Japan is re-igniting the conversation about the use of the weed killer glypohsate in New Zealand. ...
The Taxpayers Union should be aware of the law and of the history of ACC. The ACC is a legal system introduced in 1974 to replace the common law right of accident victims to sue for damages for personal injury sustained as a result of negligence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Terrorism, political extremism, Donald Trump, social media and the phenomenon of “cancel culture” are confronting journalists with a range of agonising free-speech dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney You’ve just come from your monthly GP appointment with a new script for your ongoing medical condition. But your local pharmacy is out of stock of your usual medicine. Your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & ARC Future Fellow, University of Sydney On Wednesday this week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was measured at at 415 parts per million (ppm). The level is the highest in human history, and is growing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (climate science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It might be summer in New Zealand but we’re in for some wild weather this week with forecasts of heavy wind and rain, and a plunge in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zareh Ghazarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University Despite many young Australians having a deep interest in political issues, most teenagers have a limited understanding about their nation’s democratic system. Results from the 2019 National Assessment Program – Civics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University Last week, the McIver’s Ladies Baths in Sydney came under fire for their (since removed) policy stating “only transgender women who’ve undergone a gender reassignment surgery are allowed entry”. The policy was ...
There are good grounds for optimism after the guardrails of American democracy held firm through to Joe Biden's inauguration today as President, writes Stephen Hoadley Pessimism abounds about the perilous condition of American democracy. Commentators and headline writers proffer memes such as ‘broken and divided nation’, ‘the threat from within’. ...
*This article was originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Donald Trump will forever be remembered as the president who was impeached twice - and for his rhetoric that struck a chord so deep in America that it will take years to dissipate. Donald Trump leaves Washington with the lowest approval ...
A new plan shows how and where the Government will build 8,000 new state housing places it funded in Budget 2020, Marc Daalder reports Jacinda Ardern has kicked off the political year with a major announcement, promising hundreds of new state housing places in regional centres across the country. With ...
This is the full transcript of President Joe Biden's speech after being sworn in at his inauguration this morning in Washington DC Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, and my distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, this is America's day. This ...
Analysis: President Donald Trump has left the White House, and his deputy chief of staff confirms he is withdrawing his candidacy to lead the OECD. New Zealander Christopher Liddell withdrew his nomination to be Secretary-General of the powerful 37-member OECD and was one of the last members of the Trump Administration to depart ...
Kate Wills is facing stage four cancer with the same fierce approach she takes into her ocean swimming - never say can't. Even on the mornings Kate Wills feels wretched from her fortnightly chemotherapy treatment, she drags herself up at 5am and goes swimming. “I have to. It’s my job – to ...
Some costs associated with meetings speak for themselves, others are less conspicuous. Victoria University of Wellington's Val Hooper lays those costs out, making suggestions on where we can rein them in. Meetings – when last did we count the costs? And so it’s back to work and one of the ...
Andrew Paul Wood assesses the best-selling picture book by Grahame Sydney It's no great secret the commercially very successful Grahame Sydney has a long-standing beef that his work doesn’t receive more critical and institutional approval. I sympathise about the lack of critical attention, but I can understand why. The Discourse™ ...
This story was produced in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. It was originally published by Public Integrity, Mother Jones, The Arizona Republic and Orlando Sentinel. It is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the ...
Analysis: It has been easy to ignore anyone daring to criticise or even question any aspect of the government’s Covid-19 response. Their voices have rarely been heard, and when they have been raised they have been quickly and decisively howled down by the favoured coterie of academics. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US presidential inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated through Wednesday and Thursday. The inauguration ceremony begins at 5.15am Thursday, NZ time, and Joe Biden takes the oath of office around 6am. 7.25am: And what about Trump?In the early hours of this morning, NZ ...
In 10 x 100, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Last month we quizzed Wellingtonians. Today, we ask NZ drivers how they’ve found a holiday period without international tourists, and what they get up to while they’re on the road.Across Aotearoa roads ...
Emmanuel Macron's anti-separatist policies have garnered backlash from the international Muslim community. Now, a global coalition has complained to the UN. ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. First published September 15, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by ...
By Lorraine Ecarma in Cebu City The University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) will continue to stand against any threats to human rights, chancellor Clement Camposano has declared in response to the termination of a long-standing accord preventing military incursion on campus. In a Facebook post, Camposano said the academic ...
ANALYSIS:By Jennifer S. Hunt, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit different. If the last US presidential inauguration in 2017 debuted the phrase “alternative facts”, the ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby In spite of Papua New Guinea’s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one. They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University How do scabs form? — Talila, aged 8 Great question, Talila! Our skin has many different jobs. One is to act as a barrier, protecting us from harmful things in the ...
US President Donald Trump is pardoning former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who is accused of fraud in a case involving funds for the border wall. ...
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them.Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia. Last week, three children — Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 — were ...
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown.The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington We will not be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us until the world’s population is mostly immune through vaccination ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated throughout Wednesday and Thursday, NZ time. Reach me at catherine@thespinoff.co.nz.4.00pm: What will Trump be doing tomorrow?It’s pretty well known by now that outgoing president Donald Trump intends to throw out the rulebook when it comes to ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling out Mayor Phil Goff for his undignified comment that the claim made by Councillor Greg Sayers asking why Auckland Council is funding yoga classes is “bullshit.” Yesterday, Councillor Greg Sayers penned ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At 4am Thursday AEDT, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as president and vice president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What follows is ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission. New Zealanders flocked to beaches and lakes this summer, but it wasn't enough to fill the gap left by international tourists in other regions. The tourism industry is struggling to fill a $6 billion hole left by international tourists ...
Summer reissue: Chef Monique Fiso joins us for a chat about Hiakai – her acclaimed Wellington restaurant, and the title of her stunning new book.First published November 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn ...
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Besides lying and breaking the law, how far will the National Government and our state forces go to please our US ally?
Will John Key and our military leaders condemn our Afghan interpreters and their families to certain death?
Will our courts without hearing the evidence against him, condemn Kim Dotcom to prison conditions which may well constitute torture under the UN conventions against torture?
Just last week Juan Mandez the UN Rapporteur on Torture came out with a statement against the extradition of suspected Islamist terrorists to the US because they will be subjected to a type of incarceration that risks being constituted as torture under the UN conventions against torture.
US state no longer upholds legal rights: “Violates the law”, lawyer
At 7:20 on the tape
Should Dotcom be worried that these conditions will be imposed on him?
Going by the anti-terror tactics used in his arrest and the secret anti-terror organisations that have been deployed against him. The chances are more than even, that Kim Dotcom will find himself in an underground cell under 23 hour solitary confinement in ADX Florence.
“A cleaner version of hell”
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
and these drones, 1000’s of associated civilian deaths from Drone Strikes. So sad that it has come to this.
The US now has laws which enable indefinite military detention without charges or trial of anyone deemed (either in secret or publically) to be a national security risk.
Say bye bye to democracy.
Why not, they have laws in their own country prohibiting food being given away in public to the needy, good old uncle sam eh.
US dumpster diving resource. Forget being “vegan”, in this economic climate its about being “freegan”.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-great-online-resources-support-dumpster-diving-lifestyle-si/
Cv
That can’t be good USA sounds more like bad Russia. That wouldn’t be’baseball’ would it.
Day by day the USA is becoming the great enemy and oppressor of citizens that it worked so hard and so long to defeat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/29/ndaa-danger-american-liberty
Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril
Interesting….
Madness. Pure and simple madness. But what can you expect from the land of the Paranoid and Insane?
Its what PC game makers have been trying to do for years. Kill the second hand market for PC games with copy protection (e.g. limited numbers of licence activations) in order to force people to buy new copies of games at premium prices.
But wait. If we need to recycle more, as the worlds raw material run out, then we need to
regulate materials better. If, as I believe, producers need to take responsibility for the waste,
then it follows that ownership in a object isn’t just the holder. This idea then is more in tune with
our per-industrial forebears, sole ownership of any property was essentially theft.
The whole idea behind legislation, its preventative effect, requires a invasion not so invisible
hand into the market place in order to direct the effects of the market towards social goods.
Away from slavery, serfdom…monopolies, regulatory capture (obviously our current regimes
are in denial about that particular one).
Information should be free, ideas should never be patentable (including genes).
QFT
haha, that’s funny.
Of course, what we’re actually seeing here is the actions of capitalism to control the market clearly showing that we do not have a free-market. And the reason why we don’t have a free-market is because capitalism would never survive in one.
BTW, reports are that the TPPA will ban parallel imports.
Watching Nigel Latta’s Darklands program last night was sad and depressing. It was about the circumstances that led to Nia Glassie’s death at the hands of her family in 2007. It looked at the broken families and the cycle of violence.
A question occurred to me… When did these broken dyusfunctional families come into existence? I understand how such dysfunctionality can arise and how difficult it is to break, but I don’t understand when this started. Using the Nia Glassie example, she was effectively killed by the Curtis brothers who were raised in an incrediblty violent household, especially from their father Bill Curtis.
So Bill Curtis must also have been raised in similar circumstances, I assume, following the accepted logic and wisdom around this issue. Bill Curtis looks like he would be a baby boomer, meaning he was born around 1950-60. His parents would therefore probably have been born around 1930-40. Did Bill Curtis’s parents start the cycle? Or was it their parents again?
What I am trying to ascertain is when this destructive feature arose in these families. Was it in the 1950s? Or was it in the 1930s? Or was it the generation prior to that? Once that is established the next questions would seem to be around what circumstances existed in NZ at that particular time to ignite this destruction..? When and what circumstances?
Hi vto – my personal theory is that a large number of men came back to NZ from WW2, put everything behind them , married, raised a family, worked hard etc. Many were severely traumatised and the effect on children was sometimes extreme. Just a theory.
It is a great question VTO and would be a fascinating study.
I am not sure it is a 20th century problem. Discipline, was mistaken for violence for generations. Society as whole decided to break the cycle of violent discipline in the second half of last century.
The Curtis family was more violent that most others, but having a father that beat the shit out of his kids for them spilling some milk was not uncommon at all. It was not considered dysfunctional.
I don’t think it began during any period. I think it ended as a result of the left campaigning against domestic violence.
There are studies of this on the net. Once over lightly intro here at Te Ara http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/child-abuse/5
Essentially child abuse and neglect has always been with us. The ‘idyllic’ 50s and 60s were also a time of widespread ‘stranger’ child adoption, fostered out children and private and state run childrens/teens homes and borstals often with violent cultures. Mental health care was institutionalised with little public scrutiny with elctro shock therapy–ECT and ‘chemical straightjackets’ being worse than some disorders. Priests and others charged with looking after kids were often happily kid fiddling away.
Corporal punishment was the norm, can you imagine todays school kids being repeatedly whacked with leather straps and canes? Poorer kids were effected more as ever, the government used to run health camps where disadvantaged kids would go for 6 weeks and be properly fed up. Some is family bred, the abused as modern research show often go on to abuse. Spousal assault was viewed by the Police as a domestic until recent times, rape in marriage was not considered possible again until recent times. So New Zealand has definitely a dark sadistic past and some of us maintain it is still there in some with the bennie bashing etc.
So while today there is more reporting and social work around abuse and public campaigns that have made a difference there is also more of the factors that promote child abuse. It can be about power too, alienated men and women rendered useless by unemployment and poverty lash out at the vulnerable and feel good about themselves for a small while in obviously the most twisted way.
Yes I watched it as well, and of being that age myself I’m 57 I noticed the same thing when growing up in England. Alcoholism mixed with PTSD and god knows what other mental problems after WWII and there were NO psychologists and very few Psychiatrists and the favoured form of Torture treatment was the Electro shock therapy where they fried your synapses and screwed with your memory. So of course people kept away from the Doctor and also it’s not the image of a Man in the 50’s&60’s to have mental problems. And of course this attitude has just been handed down from Father to son and it’s a destructive cycle.
edit:Damn The word Torture should have a strike through, for some reason it didn’t work.
Truth in All The Above.
This can be one dark freakin country unfortunately. It is It is Extremely Necessary and Sufficient that
We Seek The Light
🙂
Very true Jokerman, very true!
IMO, When the nuclear family started to become the norm and extended families and community integration were shut down.
As far as NZ goes, I’ve heard that it was imported from Britain in the 19th century.
Labour was in power so it must be their fault, just like everything happening now is Key’s 🙂
Hmm, all interesting points. There is surely an element of the old school “discipline” hangover from colonists and other immigrants carrying over to the different norms of today. But it is seemingly more prevalent in polynesian families so how would that have transferred to them so viciously? I can understand how it has come about in families of british background but not how it has come about in the others, and when it comes to that when and how did it arise? We are told that it didn’t exist in pre-european maori society yet it exists today – when did that happen? In the generation of Bill Curtis’ parents born around 1930’s? Or the generations prior to that? 1930’s, 1950’s, 1910’s, 1880’s? When did it start? And then, why?
oh well, shall have to go elsewhere to find the answer …….
The Poor
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/08/new-delhi-westminster-cavalier-poor?
Monbiot on The Poison of Colonisation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/08/empire-torture-kenya-catastrophe-europe?
Chavez The Faithful
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/08/venezuela-election-hugo-chavez?
Commodus
http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/stocks-commodities-weaker-on-world-outlook-20121009-279v8.html?
The Olive Pit
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article36907.html?
For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
-Pr 3:21
God Bless Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (“I Should Have Known”)
Thanks Jokerman.
The Manibot link was particularly powerful, and is very pertinent to the discussion at 3, above.
Muff McGillicuddy to visit Malaysia, Indonesia
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1210/S00137/mccully-to-visit-malaysia-indonesia.htm
What do you reckon might be on his agenda?
How to help bail out Australia with its refugee “problem” perhaps? ….and of course at the same time find a way of legitimising recent POINTLESS NZ legislation to do with those countless waves of “boat people/queue jumpers/illegals” we supposedly going to get.
Nearly missed this from yesterday. Hope Draco doesn’t mind but it seems important to me:
A simple clear statement of aspiration which would suit many, -I reckon.
Why would I mind? I didn’t write it.
BTW, it’s polite to include the link to the article.
Oops. The link as in “Spin me a brain exchange” did not survive the copy. Sorry. Anyway a great post.
Excellent article….. and advice. Thanks for the link. I absolutely agree with this clear statement of aspiration. We pass this way but once…..
In the last hour, Winston Peters has issued a press release saying he has evidence that the PM’s office knew about Dotcom earlier than previously stated. Key claims his staff didn’t pass the information on to him?
Simple question:
“Does the PM hold any concerns that he has been kept isolated from other important information by his staff?”
Love it.
Just listened to the news and it was all bad for key, real bad – Winston ripping key. I’m starting to believe that he might go down for this.
It’s the headline story on TV3 6pm news, and Garner reckons it’s not good news for Key.
TV One News haven’t included it in it’s headline summary. It’s leading with the cuts to youth wage.
I’ve taken to recording the 6pm news on My freeview so I can switch between them, and stop and start – flick through the ads.
I would like to know what documentation Dotcom has got from Power in regard to OIO if any and what the documentation from OIO is to Power and Dotcom. As well if Key signed anything to do with the OIO regarding Dotcom.
Different story to what he said in Parliament,where he now has to make a personal statement.Which which will be the third statement ( 3 strikes).Winston if framed correctly can now call him a liar in parliament thanks to Lockwood’s ruling.
Seriously:
There’s a pattern developing here and its been going on for a long time.
No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?
Of course the Right Honourable Prime Minister John Key (Knighthood Pending), would be constantly thinking of high level Philosophical Aspirations for his Gated Planet Key, and therefore the trivial matters like Growing Unemployment, National Security Mega-upload, and unobtrusive constituents such as Kim Dotcom would not dare to be referred to him.
Beggars belief John Key. Either Dishonest, or Incompetent. Choose one.
Dishonest
It’s called Plausible Deniability, a term first coined by the CIA. What Key and the GCSB are doing is taken directly out of their handbook:
Yes. I can imagine Powers phone clerk in PM’s office. The clerk tells a special person. The special person tells Key in a lift or somewhere private. Key nods and says “I did not hear what you just said. Get it?”
The trouble with that is that the clerk knows Key knows.
If the staffer was Phil de Joux (as rumoured) then he would know not to tell Key.
Plausible deniability is more than just “I didn’t hear”, it’s having staff who know the drill in the first place. Those who have worked with Brand Key since he was in opposition (as de Joux has) would know automatically that protecting the Brand is paramount.
Now it begins to work against Key however, as it looks like what it is: a pattern of deliberate ignorance brought about by a strategy of active avoidance.
there’s a reason one-trick ponies are not regarded highly.
Oh, I’ll grant them it was a good trick for a couple of elections, but they need to pull finger and find something else doubleplus fast.
I agree – active avoidance + deliberate ignorance = shifty. And once that sticks down he goes.
“No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?”
I’ve been thinking this for a while.
Key is very adamant he’d never heard of Dotcom before the raid. So I think there won’t be any evidence to contradict this claim, because he’ll have made sure there isn’t.
This FBI press release makes interesting reading, given that it was issued on the same day of the Dotcom Raid.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement
With 8 Countries involved and the number of NZ. Government agencies acknowledged by the FBI for their “substantial and critical assistance” it is difficult to believe that Mr Slip, Slide and walk away was oblivious to what was going on.
Yes Lanth. He has always been pretty smug about his denials. But if he was in total ignorance some one or people must have believed that it was wise for the PM to distance himself – at least on paper, records or any traceable means. Maybe a leak might appear eventually to explain the link that must have occurred?
Why. So that his office can decide if he needs to know. They are all paranoid gatekeepers of information. Same thing happened under Clark. Just cos Heather Simpson knew about things didn’t mean HC did.
BS on that insider.
Helen Clark had this amazing really scary ability to know what was happening around her. She knew most ministers’ portfolios better than they did.
Key is the opposite. It seems that all sorts of carnage can happen around him and he has no idea, and he never sees it coming.
To compare him to Clark is to compare chalk and cheese.
Mickey I was comparing processes not people. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event. but even she did not know everything her office knew at all times. Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Perhaps. But once your boss is telling the country that he had never heard of Dotcom before the raid, then it’s certainly the flunky’s job to tell the boss: “Excuse me Sir, the office knew” – so the PM can stop giving hostages to fortune.
Unless, of course, the flunky has been told (directly or not) that such information should not be passed on, even after the fact.
May have been a once in a generation event (I doubt it though as far too many people don’t get to sit in the spotlight to be able to tell) but I don’t think she was a micro-manager – she didn’t move into managing someone else’s responsibility unless that someone else fucked up. Just a manager that knew what she should have known.
They filter it down to bite size pieces – they do not keep it from the person they work for.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions. You’re saying the boss gets to hear about absolutely everything the minions know, just in précis. Organisations don’t work that way, because i suspect we all know that huge amounts of information gets passed on between individuals for a range of reasons, but not all of it is useful. Can you say that every single email you’ve received this week contained something relevant to you?
No, but I can say that if my boss ever goes on TV and says he’s never heard of somebody, and I had previously had a phone call from a senior colleague about that somebody, then I would make damn sure I told my boss about it after he’d gone on telly. To save his blushes, or mine.
So … Did Key’s office tell him AFTER Dotcom became NZ’s Number One news story?. There is a gap of eight months between then and now – during which Key has said nothing about it … until today. Until he was forced to.
Your “hear about absolutely everything” line is classic evasion by hyperbole. It’s THE thing for Key, and has been since February. Why has he wanted not to know – or say?
If they thought that the Dotcom stuff was immaterial and Key did not have to know about it then it is difficult to know what he would have to know about.
Is that what you really mean insider?
I’ve called ministers offices plenty of times and passed on info I’ve had no expectation of them hearing at the time. I’m briefing the officials just in case something related comes up and they can use it if they see fit. In July 2011 kdc probably was irrelevant to the pm. I don’t disagree that since January something should have been said by one of his officials somewhere.
Generally speaking, if it’s reaching the office of the PM then, at a guess, I’d say it was important enough for him to know about. He doesn’t need to know all the details but he does need to know about it. Sure, there’d be some that gets passed on to other ministers (wrong address) but stuff about intelligence operations would go to him.
There’s some confusion here- it was not an intelligence issue when either peters asked his question or powers office contacted keys. Your guess i think is wrong. Officials give each other heads ups all the time, just like peers in many organisations. That doesn’t mean the info is intended for the boss.
Bollocks insider. You’re not fooling anyone except yourself. When Simon Power contacted the PM’s office he was giving the PM a heads up on where things were at with Dotcom. That means he was given the information by a member of his staff.
John Key and his staff are indulging in “plausible deniability”. See Jackal @ 8.1.1.1
I wonder if the staff member was Captain Panic Pants?
Awesome idea Anne ….
They could have a the “Panic Pants Suit” on the wall for the next “Not John Key” meeting.
That way he’ll never forget 🙂
Diapers on the outside maybe M8!
The “Protocol” Grows M8!
Imagine the Bus ride to the Beehive!
Sorry, it wasn’t Panic Pants – Deputy Chief of Staff. Still, that’s a very senior staff member and he didn’t tell Key? Pull the other one.
Here’s the TV3 news item – pretty damming of JK in my view.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Documents-show-police-knew-Dotcom-a-resident/tabid/370/articleID/272091/Default.aspx
Actualy I remember that, Wasn’t it John Key himself who allowed Dotcom to buy the mansion?
(i.e. Vetoed his minister)
Would’ve been a Herald Article of course.
If you are going to cry bollocks anne getting the facts right first would help your case. It was one of powers staff not power himself. That lowers the issue down the food chain quite significantly.
It came from Powers office, and went to the Prime Mincer’s office. Where is that picture of the monkey chiefs covering their eyes and ears when you need it.
“..the Magical Mystery Tour…they coming to take you away…take you away….take you away.”
The difference here is that in July 2011, Simon Power knew that the FBI was interested in Dotcom. Recall: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816772
That is probably the reason why he chose to inform the PM’s Office of his intention to deny Dotcom’s overseas investment application. And if that’s the case, then Key probably had some prior knowledge.
The fact is Power deliberated over Dotcom’s application for three months before making a decision. Is it believable that he didn’t discuss it with the PM at some point?
the US govt knows one thing for sure, having the growing middle east wars as a distraction allows all sorts of space for what you get up to at home. Remember, in the modern Amerika you are a suspected terrorist first and a citizen second.
“the extent that 1021(b)(2) purports to encompass protected First Amendment activities, it is unconstitutionally overbroad”
This ruling has been overturned, then an injunction was won, then a stay was put on the injunction, so now a whole bunch of other judges have been asked by the big boss man to secure the stay permanently and get his ‘lock em up then ask the questions’ law rolling nationwide. Sure it’s over in America so what does it matter right? Not like they are gonna start spying on kiwis, imprisoning people without charges, ask for troops on the ground or start flying Drone missions over here . . .
THE CHILDREN OF WAR
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/208063_313184525455648_1734282819_n.jpg
night
“The Gold War”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10839360
and business not looking too positive in the land of the long grey crowd either according to the daily fish and chip wrappings.
(sorry Prism, it was “Infidels” by Bob Dylan i keep forgetting to reference)
What a prophet dear Bob has been; The only international concert i have seen was Bob with Patti Smith at a stadium in Christchurch; Patti Smith, now she is as wonderful as Helen Kelly and Julie-Ann
(i am such a man)
-“The Minstrel In The Gallery….looked down upon the smiling faces…”
who read todays Dompost?
one story is about Annette King complaining to the speaker of the house about craig (hamburger) heatley giving incoherent mumbling replies to oral questions.
On the letters page one writer is complaining about Russell Norman getting too much time on teevee3.
Nashnil cant have it both ways.
If they put up up drawling bumblers on the floor of the house who cant make it in the world at large then tough luck.
not craig heatley .. phil heatley
National determined to increase exodus
Be ready to wave goodbye to more of your loved ones, especially if they’re just trying to start out in the workforce…
From the foregoing survey of conspicuous leisure and consumption, it appears that the the utility of both alike for the purposes of reputability lies in the element of waste that is common to both.
In the one case it is a waste of time and effort, in the other it is a waste of goods.
“Theory of the Leisure Class”
-Thorstein Veblen; american economist and social scientist
Believe It, Or Not
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/383437_506700752673514_1752747703_n.jpg
6090 people have decided to sell their red zone properties to the Govt.
The Govt is processing them a 50 per week ….
That’s 121.8 weeks before they’re all paid (2.34 years)
Ha yep, doesn’t pay to add up timeframes in Chch, they are too frightening.
Also, see my post at Mr Wrong re the government’s current smoke and fire around not being able to pay its bills. Perhaps the two are linked …….
Agreed, I’ve suspected this for some time now, hence all the belt tightening rhetoric.
2.34 years before some people will even start to rebuild their lives.
4.44 Years after the quake they start to rebuild.
And Brownlee is calling them ungrateful ……
What does this Gnat government actually do for us!.
Investigative Report on the U.S. National Security Issues Posed by Chinese Telecommunications Companies Huawei and ZTE
Those Americans are seriously paranoid, more than a little hypocrytical, and not willing to investigate the hardware properly for themselves.
I’m sure a good Engineer could suss those switches out in short order.
Hence the UK response.
and not willing to investigate the hardware properly for themselves.
Maybe they don’t need to.
While many of these techniques are not unique to Huawei, one only has to look at the CCP’s overtly totalitarian history vis a vis the internet (The Great Wall of China) to quickly conclude that they are wholly the authors of their own misfortune here.
Or maybe not so paranoid after all.
I feel we should give due recognition to the the benefits that this National led Government is delivering to many….(or perhaps I should say some):
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/national-govt-brings-much-happiness-to.html
Video of Sydney cops tasering a student to death. Warning, contains nudity and police brutality.
But that can’t be real TRP, everyone knows cops are the best of the best doing the hardest most thankless job around for entirely altruistic reasons.
There’s no way the job would attract thugs and rapists and murderers, certainly not the kind of cowardly scum who would electrocute a man to death after they already had him in handcuffs.
If you haven’t seen the video of Gillard dealing to the, for now, leader of the opposition, it is soooooo well worth the 15 minutes.
http://t.co/YbGgkwcL
That’s a hiding.
Bloody hell. That’s a thrashing.
Spectacular!
Makes Helen look downright meek and mild. Impassioned and intelligently coherent at the same time … bloody impressive.
Unequivocal
+1
I remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia, she spoke of Helen Clark as “having been her role model.” Well, I could see Helen Clark standing there making exactly the same speech. Congratulations Julia.
I agree, but while Helen refused to engage with the vile misogyny that was directed at her (does anyone else recall the filth that was being email circulated in the months before the 2008 election?) … it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
Snap, RL. I just said something similar.
‘kin A.
Thanks for the link. My impression was that the Aussie house isn’t as shouty as the NZ one. Gillard delivers her ticking off emphatically – but it’s in the way it’s stated, and the body language.
The opposition front bench looks a glum ,rum, unimpressed and unimpressive lot.
And Gillard does something I don’t recall Helen Clark ever doing: she publicly and clearly calls out the leader of the opposition, opposition MPs and members of their party for some of the slurs they have directed at her personally. She calls them out for calling out to her in the House that she needs to be made “an honest woman”; she calls them out for the way they refer to her as a bitch and a witch.
That’s the way to do it – take them on in public. Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
That’s true Karol but I don’t think Helen had much choice. Most of the vitriol was being spread in bars, sports clubs, work-places etc. With the exception of the ‘childless’ barb, very little of it came out in the House or by way of the MSM. The ‘Alan Jones slur’ on the other hand gave Julia the opportunity to get stuck into all of them.
Most of the nasty stuff against Helen began very soon after she was selected to be the new MP for Mt Albert. She was extremely hurt by them, but because she didn’t know who was spreading them there wasn’t much she could do about it.
She did come out in public over the disgusting stories about her husband, Peter Davis but it didn’t stop her opponents from continuing to spread those stories.
Thanks for that. It makes complete sense. All I can say is that the slurs, the jokes and nastiness while obviously less personal and pointed for us than it was for HC, it was still nonetheless felt by many of us on the left as a malign, shameful episode in this nation’s history.
Collectively we owe her an apology.
Aye
New Zealand’s loss was the United Nation’s gain.
I saw Helen speak in NZ recently and I thought “why do we have this buffoon as a leader when we could still have Helen” …
What I can tell you RedLogix is: most of the individuals who started the rumours lived in the locality, and they all ended up in ACT. Are you surprised?
these Youth Wages; occupational trenching.into Agricultural Colleges.
Low Wages.What is the incentive? only the stick of benefit sanctions.
Low Wages.What is the incentive for productivity?
Low Wages.What will the displaced boomers live on?
Low Wages.Will keep young people domestically dependent.
Targeting Beneath Vote Majority. How Slippery Is That?
that Lovely Sister Wendy and her Art Illustrations.
Pay It Forward
Traditionally Modern
these “niche schools”. I enjoyed the exploration of the Sikh School from Birmingham.
“not counter-productive to their children” the Head suggested.
They Teach All Faiths; Teachers of All Ethnicities and Religions
Think Kura. (that John Tamihere, his mouth is less disciplined than Hone; arrogant! Wow!)
Key’s Sunset Boulevard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Boulevard_(film)
what I want to see is David shearer giving kweewee his beans.
that will be fun!
When spiritually successful men go bankrupt
http://gcxweb.org/Misc/LarryPile-OtherSideOfDiscipleship.aspx
As useful as a bucket of Dog Slobber – That’s our memory impaired leader – He and his Partys latest edition on the Jobs front. = $10,80/hr Jobs rate. Wooo Hooo economic Genius or what!
He and his fool minions have just handed all Fast Food Corparates a 33% profit increase on the wage bill they currently pay their young workers.
It’s a gift to companies already rolling about in a sea of excess cash. At the expense of the NZ worker.
One has to ask how desparate are these eejit Tories. And what else are they not telling an increasingly impoverished NZ public.
Bernie Monk rips John Key a new one for weaseling out of the effort to retrieve the Pike River dead. It’s a new personal worst in a month of lows for Johnny Sparkles and National may as well stop standing candidates in the West Coast for a generation or two.
“Mr Monk says he got the impression that the Pike River mine was no longer a priority for the Prime Minister – but told Mr Key that if he thinks that the issue will go away, it won’t happen”.
Weirdly, Stuff’s front page are reporting Key’s latest bout of forgetfulness under the headline “Pike recovery revisted”, but. hey, who needs sub editors these days?
The interview on Radio Live is even more devastating – one of the most passionate, furious denunciations of Key you will ever hear.
(audio on website from 4.45 pm … perhaps somebody with a fast connection could embed a link? I listened on ye olde radio …).
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/John-Key-not-supporting-Pike-River-families-proposal/tabid/506/articleID/31213/Default.aspx
Here ’tis.
“He showed no emotion”.
nada
Headless Chickens
http://gcxweb.org/Misc/LarryPile-OtherSideOfDiscipleship.aspx
oops,
Headless Chickens
(very distorted)
tempting Destiny.
other than those abominations, increased gestation of ethnic sectarianism may successfully parasite WASP capitalism
critical reflection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault%E2%80%93Habermas_debate
“Verlaine…verlaine….verlaine….verlaine…”
I found this article by putting in the search engine ‘john key and bank of america’
It says that shonkey was the head of global forex at meryll lynch as they
transfered enough debt into the irish economy to completely wipe it out
along with the middle us classes and their homes.
Key started borrowing $380 million a week here in nz and i can remember
he was borrowing more than needed, ‘his reply from memory was that it
was ‘cheap money’,what he didn’t tell the tax payers of nz is that he has
substantial shares in the bank of america where he got those ‘nz’ loans.
From observations it seems that our ‘dear leader’ is steering nz in the
same direction as those economies he has overseen in his bankster days,
i would bet that he is still ’employed’ with them as a pm’s job is not a long
one, just long enough to cause a country immeasurable damage,there is a
concerning pattern emerging in correlation with what i have read.
Some good reading on www. mediawhore.co.nz.
Also bank of america bankrolls bathurst,so that is why the front bench
of the nacts are pushing the enviromentalist to back off court action,key
is ‘shonkey’ deep in this as well, what a ‘slippery’ slope, when we try to
deceive’ eh shokey.
I don’t think that Greens and Labour should jump in unequivocally to the Chinese-USA techno dispute. Back doors have been mentioned in the Chinese programs well Microsoft was accused of doing this. And as the USA is trying to flex its muscles over China we should be wary and try to remain neutral.
Unfortunately Australia feels threatened by its closer Asian neighbours and welcomes USA defence, there is a contingent in Darwin I think now, and as it aligns with the USA and we tend to integrate with Oz and sign up for TPP (all done in secret), it will be hard to think for ourselves if we ever get round to that.