The numbers suggest that Trump's support is pretty firm around the 42-45% mark. Good news is that the more he gets into legal trouble, the more that number becomes a ceiling rather than a floor.
Something that isn't mentioned very often amongst all these polls showing support for trump at alarming (to many) levels amongst Republicans..is that neither Republicans nor democrats decide american elections..
Those who pick the president are the third leg..the independents..
From memory registered Republicans are about 25% of voters…
(So trump's support is actually 40+% of 25% of actual voters..meh..!)
And he had his share of support from those independents when elected…but for some time now trump's support amongst independents has tanked…
So (to me) the idea of trump getting the republican nomination..is just another meh..!..and will guarantee a democrat+independents victory..
And all these media stories about trump's support are essentially alarmist bullshit-clickbait if used as a marker to him getting the job again.
(nb:..the above derives from my general knowledge/memories from studying the american political system..and I am just trying to tell those possibly fretting over those alarmist poll-squealings from the media…and the prospect of the orange clown getting another go…to just go meh..!..)
I thought Biden was an excellent candidate last time from everyone of either party who put their names forward. Repairing Trump's damage required someone with vast institutional knowledge, and Biden was the best person for that job in my view. Decades in the Senate and 8 years as VP is not exactly a common CV. Given the difficulties in Congress that are usually underappreciated by most, he's done about as much as anyone was likely to.
That said, the system is so different compared to here, you can't really compare them fairly. Conservative Christians are much bigger part of the electoral base than here, and the Republican Party decided to welcome them in decades ago. The country is huge and there are more powers and politics at city, county and state level, so the state parties are a lot more important than the regions are in NZ. Both major US parties have independent state parties, and often state politics means that US party is a pretty broad church with a lot more overlap than you would think from a presidential campaign.
If Democrats want to be electable in places like Utah or Texas, for example, they have to be closer to the Republican Party in those areas which means pretty conservative politics at the national level. In somewhere like Vermont where Bernie Sanders is one of their Senators, they have a Republican governor, but to get elected, he has to be closer to the local Democratic Party which means pretty liberal politics at the national level.
Ideally someone else could pick it up, but it's nearly unheard of for a current president to not be renominated if they put their name forward. https://time.com/5682760/incumbent-presidents-primary-challenges/ has the 5 occasions in the 234 years of presidencies – the most recent is Chester A Arthur in 1884. The only elected president not to be renominated after seeking reelection was Franklin Pierce in 1856 – the other 4 were Vice-Presidents who replaced presidents who had died during office.
What does it say about the GOP and it's rump base that the only candidate they can muster is a superannuiated sex offender and insurrectionist?
I read at salon.com that this ruling – and Trump's other upcoming legal problems – may act as a bizarre incentive to keep him in the presidential race, since the DOJ will always go softly softly on any presidential candidate.
Biden's unfavourability rating is almost entirely driven by concerns over his age, he moves like a very old man and he makes very old man mistakes when talking. As long as his campaign can assure voters he is up to the job he'll easily defeat Trump.
Luxon has just ruled out working with the Maori Party on ZB.
Whatever anyone says about the decision, I don't think there is any doubt it is a politically astute move.
Given that Labour is not really in a position where it can do the same, there is a fairly clear choice for voters now. Especially since there is quite a furore over co-governance at the moment.
Don't know about "astute". Blind Freddy could see that it's the best thing to say – because irritation with TMP and Maori more generally is a core characteristic of your base. And also present at lower intensities outside your base.
Haven't heard anybody ask Luxon if John Key was therefore wrong to work with TMP during his term in office. Luxon would most likely warble away about circumstances bring different back then – at which point a decent interviewer would nail him to the floor by asking "so if circumstances change you might work with them?' Then the vacuous, prattling burbler would cut to his prepared script about "wasteful spending" as a way of escape – and a decent interviewer would cut him short. But hey, journalists, who needs real ones?
Haven't heard anybody ask Luxon if John Key was therefore wrong to work with TMP during his term in office.
I guess you have to take the politics of each situation in its context. I think what Key did was a forward thinking move at the time. He didn't actually need TMP when elected. But could see that having them inside the tent could be useful in future elections where he might need their support.
In this case, I have my doubts that TMP would go with National anyway even if that option was available. So, I don't think there is too much downside for National in ruling them out. And, the politics of the situation are that Labour really can't afford to do the same. So, I think TMP has become a bit of a ball and chain for Labour now.
It will be interesting to see if National will rule NZ First out as well. This could really mess with voter's heads if they have to consider National/Act versus a possible Labour/Greens/TMP/NZ First coalition.
And the answer to that question is "If the circumstances change, of course I might change with them. If TMP's leadership and policies were to change, then there is a chance to talk with them. But under the current circumstances – we are ruling them out."
I think TMP is a lot more radical than it was back in the Key times as well.
I think in the end this will be bad for them. Because, it will end up making them politically untouchable so long as there is wide spread resistance amongst voters to the co-governance concept.
So, if National wins this time around, I think Labour will have to rule out TMP in future elections due to a coalition involving TMP being seen as politically toxic for centre voters.
So, they may well end up having a presence in parliament, but never being in the position to achieve anything for their cause.
It will be interesting to see if National rules out NZ First as well. NZ First have already ruled out Labour. So, if National rules out NZ First, then there isn't much point in a protest vote to NZ First. Especially since National has already stolen NZ First's thunder by ruling out TMP.
Not much choice really, TMP base left them before because they supported National too much, to the degree that TMP lost all their MPs. Politically, TMP aren't really in a position to support National on much other than case-by-case legislation.
That is why I think ruling NZ First out is also a good idea. As I said, NZ First has ruled out Labour. So, if National rules out NZ First, there isn't any point voting for them.
Oh well, maybe the cholesterol overload will get to Mr Hoggard before he does too much damage! Bacon & eggs for breakfast, T-bone & chips for lunch, Roasted home kill beast for dinner…
Fed Farmers and their members have long been the filthiest of the dirty filthy tories when it comes down to it–profiting most of all from stolen and dubiously acquired land. They are in denial of post colonial fallout as they pour nitrates into the nation’s waterways via animal excretions from over fertilised industrial dairying operations.
For a Fed Farmers person to go ACT shows the desperation, the profitability crisis–plus they need cheap migrant labour and cruel live animal exporting and mud bog “winter farming” to keep their rate of profit up. Farmers crisis is a capitalist crisis.
It would be great to see the progressive farmer and horticulture groups coalesce together more often. Federated Farmers don't represent all farmers, and I sneakily suspect they don't represent a majority of them.
But we won't find that out until more progressive producers are prepared to poke their head above the parapet to face the next version of Howl of a Protest.
Fed Farmers is being outflanked on the right by Groundswell, which poses huge problems for the historic alliance between farmers and urban business that is the foundation of the National party.
The self-radicalisation of the right means there is a real possibility of ACT/Groundswell vying to replace National/Fed Farmers as the majoritry right wing political rural/urban alliance.
We have already seen chaos in Auckland resulting from climate change. And we can see the Nat-ACT boys intend to do nothing about emissions but whistle in the dark and wait for technology to turn up that will allow their farming & business backers to carry on exactly as they are – plus (maybe) some piss-weak concessions to adaptation.
When we see those things, it's completely clear who the real coalition of chaos is.
Well, the right don't like compromise or community, and see that as communism, so no real surprise that they and you? don't like listening to differing points of view.
They describe, by creating the "chaos" meme, any MMP coalition of 'other' groups, which are not Nats or Act.
Luxon thinks we only have one vote apparently, when clearly under MMP we have two.
There is a disconnect from community showing and a whiff of ‘my way’.imo.
My partner says that there are growers and farmers that are more 21st century and pro environment but they tend to be smaller producers, and some of them do get covered on the venerable “Country Calendar” these days. I have met a number in the Far North, which is a smallish, long geographic area when we do local markets so not so many baddies perhaps up here. But mid North down…
Not the first Fed worthy to have a go with ACT. Don Nicolson was ACT candidate in Clutha Southland in 2011 and 2014. He was #3 on ACT list in 2011 and #5 in 2014.
In both elections Nicolson's personal vote far exceeded ACT's party vote in the electorate.
OK it's a very different ACT party now but I think this illustrates that coming from a Fed Farmers presidency doesn't automatically translate to general election success.
Doubtful Hoggard could be as barking as Nicolson. But ya never know…
09:11, Jun 30 2011
Powerful people are manipulating us for their own ends, Don Nicolson believes. And the only way to defeat them is to allow free enterprise to have free rein.
The retiring president of Federated Farmers is convinced New Zealand is a victim of international job-creation schemes.
"There are senior people who absolutely know what they're doing," he says. "They've created industries by building complexity into everything. Every time they write something down – when it goes from the head to the paper – that's when we're lost."
Remember, tankies, a falling out between thieves delivered the USSR as an accidental ally to the West. Stalin had happily allied with Hitler to over run and divvy up large parts of Eastern Europe and provided fuel and raw materials for Hitler's invasions of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the fuel to bomb London.
Anti Sovietism remains the territory of vacillators and cowards. Much of the world would be have been “eating Bratwurst for breakfast” if not for the Russian people and their allies of WWII.
I'm sure tens of millions of Eastern Europeans were grateful to endure the controlling oppression, forced migration, and ethnic/cultural erasure imposed on them by their post-war colonisers.
You cannot understand why Victory Day is the most significant secular holiday in Russia without getting a sense of just how much the Soviet Union lost in the Nazi-Soviet War.
And the Ukrainians suffered more than most as they were living in the area that much of the fighting took place in and which was occupied for a couple of years by the Nazis.
Hitler started off by attacking Russia. I don't think he was thinking of attacking the British and French until Chamberlain declared war. The pact with Russia came about because he realized he would have deal with Western Europe first. Stalin probably went along with it because the respite gave him a chance sort out his own defenses. He probably guessed that Hitler would probably renege.
Theinvasion of Poland(1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union; which marked the beginning of World War II.
Great news from Bakhmut, the Ulrainian 3rd Assault Brigade has apparently countrer-attacked and driven the Russians back 2.6km on a 3km front, a big advance in the context of the fighting there.
I mentioned the unit because it is a very interesting and a very powerful one. Formed from Azov units it is basically a fully mechanised reinforced brigade of three infantry and one tank battalion plus one each of an artillery, drone, and combat engineer battalion.
Twitter video shows close tank/infantry coooperation in a combined arms assault, which indicates the unit has benefited from western training. There are heaps and heaps of dead Russians in the imagery. Just lately a lot of video and still imagery showing very large numbers of Russian KIA have been showing up online, perhaps indicating the Ukrainians are not only inflicting very heavy losses on the Russian forces but defeating them as well and seizing/retaining control of the battle zone.
If one well trained and equipped brigade can rout the Wagner forces so thoroughly in a local counter-attack, that has got to be an encouraging sign.
Read something awhile ago about a NATO peer to peer based estimate that Poots needs 1900 troops /kilometre to hold a fortified front against mechanised and tank divisions that can choose to attack anywhere along the 800 kilometre front.
The Russian have built multiple lines of defense in the occupied regions along the expected axis of any Ukrainian offensive. These lines are very formidable, consisting of minefileds, strongpoints, anti-tank ditches, dragons teeth, and extensive earthworks. They don't need to be well manned, just have enough men to act as a speed bump to buy time for mobile reserves and force multipliers – especially Russian airpower, which the Ukrainians have no answer – to intervene.
The issue for the Russians is manpower. To effectively defend against an attack that the Ukrainians are looking like putting together requires sufficient manpower in an area of the frontlines of 30 km of around 50 to 90 thousand troops. They can do this in upward of 90 to 100 km of the front. Unfortunately for them they need to do so for 500 km unless they pick exactly the spot the Ukrainians will focus upon.
" These lines are very formidable, consisting of minefields, strongpoints, anti-tank ditches, dragons teeth, and extensive earthworks. They don't need to be well manned, just have enough men to act as a speed bump to buy time for mobile reserves and force multipliers"
That sounds rather like the French intentions when they built the Maginot line back before WW 2. How did that work out?
Nothing like the Maginot line, a closer analogy would be the field works built by the Soviets at Kursk or possibly the Hindenburg line in WW1. The difference with Kursk is the Soviets deployed 1,900,000 men over a 260km front, and the Hindenburg line was 140km long and manned by 20 divisions, around 350-400,000 men.
Yes, I saw that. Some rather graphic footage. But, good to see the success.
I have thought for awhile that Bakhmut would be a good place to launch a counter offensive for several reasons:
Firstly, the Russians are on attack, so won't tend to be as well dug in.
Secondly, there is a good chance for Ukraine to do a pincer movement by attacking from either side of the flanks, and effectively encircling a lot of Russian and Wagner soldiers.
Update: this Ukrainian attack saw the combat debut of the Bradley IFV. At least a pair of them were involved and the destroyed at least four BMPs with ease. The BMP is completely outclassed by the Bradley.
Australian doctors in private practice may come under pressure to cease involvement in medicalised gender change of minors following a landmark insurance decision that stresses the significant risk of litigation.
“In response to the high risk of claims arising from irreversible treatments provided to those who medically and surgically transition as children and adolescents, [medical indemnity insurer] MDA National is restricting cover for practitioners in private practice,” the insurer says in an email to members with this exposure.
No payment
The MDA National email to doctors seeing gender dysphoric youth says: “[From July 1, we] will not cover you or make a payment when the claim against you arises in any way out of your assessment that a patient under the age of 18 years is suitable for gender transition.”
The insurer, which has 54,000 health professional members, also says it will no longer cover doctors if they face a claim after “initiating prescribing of gender affirming hormones for any patient under the age of 18 years.
The risks to the insurer are completely different to any medical risks to the people treated by private physicians. The insurer’s decision was purely commercial and protecting the business, if that’s what you mean with “objectively”.
They are socialising the losses/risks to state-funded clinics and hospitals. It is purely a commercial decision. In Oregon, they went the other way, as per the article.
well, yes, obviously the insurance company's motivation is commercial, but the basis for that decision is complex and important social and medical issues. There's an irony in insurance companies reigning in the excesses of neoliberalism and the overmedicalisation of teens and children. Likewise with climate.
In Oregon the state is forcing insurers to provide cover for medical procedures. In Australia the insurer is withdrawing cover for surgeons if they are involved in claims from surgery that leaves detrans people with permanent disability (sued or prosecuted, I'm unclear from the article). Two different kinds of insurance.
The former is ideological against evidence and safe practice. Good to see detransition surgery covered, but it's pretty fucked up to enforce a questionable system and then pay for remedial surgery to try and mitigate the entirely predictable mistakes and damage. My guess is the state is overriding the insurance sector's commercial motivations.
The latter is the insurance company having watched what is happening with both detrans legal cases internationally, as well as research.
I think that both Molly and you are conflating different types of risks involved in medical transition for minors. The insurer's decision is based on the risk of legal liability for potential claims arising from unhappy or harmed patients who may sue for malpractice or negligence. This risk is influenced by the strength of evidence for the safety and efficacy of the treatments, the quality of informed consent obtained from the patients and their parents, and the availability of alternative options for addressing gender dysphoria. The insurer's decision is not based on the risk of medical harm to the patients themselves, which is a separate issue that should be evaluated by qualified health professionals on a case-by-case basis.
You also said that Oregon is forcing insurers to provide cover for medical procedures, but this is not entirely correct. The State of Oregon is requiring insurers to cover gender-affirming treatments that are deemed medically necessary by a health care provider, which may include cosmetic services or revisions to prior treatments. This does not mean that insurers have to cover any procedure that a patient requests, but rather that they have to follow the professional judgment of the provider. This is different from Australia, where the insurer is withdrawing cover for doctors who assess or initiate gender transition for patients under 18, regardless of their professional judgment or the hospital setting. In effect, the Australian insurer is removing the ability of doctors to act on sound clinical judgement.
Yes, I agree with you that there is an irony in insurance companies reigning in the excesses of neoliberalism and the over-medicalisation of teens and children, but I also think that there is a danger in relying on insurance companies to determine the standard of care for complex and controversial medical issues. Insurance companies are not neutral judges of scientific evidence or ethical principles; they are profit-driven entities that may have ulterior motives or conflicts of interest. They may also be influenced by political or social pressures, such as transphobic backlash or litigation threats. It seems to me that this might be another cynical ploy in yet another culture war (or is it just one big one?), which is why some appear to be rejoicing at this decision. Only more independent research and better guidelines for health professionals and patients is going to lead to better options for treatment, which includes psychological treatment.
We've seen this with earthquake cover in Wellington, where properties are unable to get cover, if they are not up to Govt standards. It's an issue with apartments in particular (the complication of strata title, as well as costs being beyond the ability of some residents to pay).
We're starting to see it with climate risk insurance.
And, IMO, the sooner the better. Wealthy people can strong-arm the council with constant legal challenges to get to build what they want to, where they want to. They have no leverage over insurers. If they don't find the risk acceptable, they won't touch it with a barge pole.
Fair enough. Sensible…..enforces, hopefully, a period of what I call 'watchful waiting' until the person is 18 & over. The rush to transition and also the 'contagion' whereby groups of younger ones find a need to transition may abate by that stage with the move to new friends, moving on, time…….
To me it doesn't matter how a slow down occurs, whether by sensible society moves or by a withdrawing of insurance cover as long as the current madness is slowed.
Quote from the article
‘A physician who follows the gender clinic controversy told GCN he believed “this whole treatment area [of medicalised gender change for minors] has gone ahead without adequate evidence of, firstly, efficacy, and, secondly, safety’.
There is good dicussion in the article about the concept that this withdrawal of cover may force the consideration of requests to a multi group of specialists in a hospital setting. This can often include psychiatric help which has been lacking up until now.
Jordan Peterson who has not been my flavour of the month, has really risen in my estimation with his interviews drawing on his professional knowledge of the mental health and consent aspects.
The insurer is simply cutting its business risks it’s exposed to, it says so in the article. Anyway:
“We consider it appropriate that the assessment and initial prescribing for patients transitioning under the age of 18 years occurs with the support and management of a multi-disciplinary team in a hospital setting.”
[…]
If MDA National stands firm against any transgender activist backlash, and the remaining medical indemnity funds adopt similar carve-outs, the effect would be to concentrate the legal risk in state-funded children’s hospital gender clinics.
[…]
There is no good Australian data on the extent of medical transition of minors in the private health sector, but specialist gender clinics in public children’s hospitals have long waiting lists, and trans rights activists have campaigned to mainstream hormonal interventions through local family doctors and hospitals.
Your hopeful wish for 'watchful waiting' might be granted, especially when other insurers follow suit.
Yes the business is cutting its risks and you could say that this is because gender affirmation by chemicals designed to treat prostate cancer etcplus cross hormones, or 'heroic' ((meaning anything but) surgery as penises are fashioned out of forearms, made into vaginas, unnecessary hysterectomies and breast removals are done) is a risky business without much of a scientific or medical backing behind it.
The company would have thin grounds on which to support a member who may be taken to court.
To me it does not matter where the stopping comes from….having insurers cut back on costs for claiming and meeting litigation costs cases & the consequent restricting of access is as good a way as any.
There is no good Australian data on the extent of medical transition of minors in the private health sector,
Actually there is a lack of data, full stop, worldwide let alone 'good' data. An example is in Sweden which has pulled back on hormonal interventions…
Following a comprehensive review of evidence, the NBHW concluded that the evidence base for hormonal interventions for gender-dysphoric youth is of low quality, and that hormonal treatments may carry risks.
…
In light of above limitations in the evidence base, the ongoing identity formation in youth, and in view of the fact that gender transition has pervasive and lifelong consequences, the NBHW has concluded that, at present, the risks of hormonal interventions for gender dysphoric youth outweigh the potential benefits.
Teachers grew particularly alarmed early this year when word spread that Ken Witt, the new superintendent, did not plan to reapply for grants that covered the salaries of counselors and social workers.
At Gateway Elementary School in March, Witt told staff members he prioritized academic achievement, not students’ emotions. “We are not the department of health and human services,” he said, as teachers angrily objected, according to two recordings of the meeting made by staff members and shared with NBC News.
Someone in the meeting asked if taxpayers would get a say in these changes, and Witt said that they already did — when they elected the school board.
Not surprising the Bible makes an appearance in that particular little corner of looneyville. The surprise is the district superintendent is Ken Witt. 'Frank' would've suited him better then he officially could have been 'F Witt.'
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Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
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Now that Trump has been found by a jury to be guilty of sexual assault, will Biden look any more attractive as a candidate?
Bidens polls are so so bad, can there be any upside or is MAGA contingent largely immovable?
The numbers suggest that Trump's support is pretty firm around the 42-45% mark. Good news is that the more he gets into legal trouble, the more that number becomes a ceiling rather than a floor.
Something that isn't mentioned very often amongst all these polls showing support for trump at alarming (to many) levels amongst Republicans..is that neither Republicans nor democrats decide american elections..
Those who pick the president are the third leg..the independents..
From memory registered Republicans are about 25% of voters…
(So trump's support is actually 40+% of 25% of actual voters..meh..!)
And he had his share of support from those independents when elected…but for some time now trump's support amongst independents has tanked…
So (to me) the idea of trump getting the republican nomination..is just another meh..!..and will guarantee a democrat+independents victory..
And all these media stories about trump's support are essentially alarmist bullshit-clickbait if used as a marker to him getting the job again.
(nb:..the above derives from my general knowledge/memories from studying the american political system..and I am just trying to tell those possibly fretting over those alarmist poll-squealings from the media…and the prospect of the orange clown getting another go…to just go meh..!..)
I am actually more alarmed by de santis…and would rather trump than that piece of work..
I just can't get my head around US politics. Given the population of the US, is Trump and Biden really the best they can find to lead their country?
And Trump looks like he is going to run for the Republicans again even though most polls suggest he will lose. It just doesn't make sense.
I would rank any of our leaders from either party over the last 20 years as far superior to those who the US have put up in recent times..
I thought Biden was an excellent candidate last time from everyone of either party who put their names forward. Repairing Trump's damage required someone with vast institutional knowledge, and Biden was the best person for that job in my view. Decades in the Senate and 8 years as VP is not exactly a common CV. Given the difficulties in Congress that are usually underappreciated by most, he's done about as much as anyone was likely to.
That said, the system is so different compared to here, you can't really compare them fairly. Conservative Christians are much bigger part of the electoral base than here, and the Republican Party decided to welcome them in decades ago. The country is huge and there are more powers and politics at city, county and state level, so the state parties are a lot more important than the regions are in NZ. Both major US parties have independent state parties, and often state politics means that US party is a pretty broad church with a lot more overlap than you would think from a presidential campaign.
If Democrats want to be electable in places like Utah or Texas, for example, they have to be closer to the Republican Party in those areas which means pretty conservative politics at the national level. In somewhere like Vermont where Bernie Sanders is one of their Senators, they have a Republican governor, but to get elected, he has to be closer to the local Democratic Party which means pretty liberal politics at the national level.
Biden, maybe…. But again? He is struggling now with what appears to be the onset of dementia. How will he be at the end of another term?
Ideally someone else could pick it up, but it's nearly unheard of for a current president to not be renominated if they put their name forward. https://time.com/5682760/incumbent-presidents-primary-challenges/ has the 5 occasions in the 234 years of presidencies – the most recent is Chester A Arthur in 1884. The only elected president not to be renominated after seeking reelection was Franklin Pierce in 1856 – the other 4 were Vice-Presidents who replaced presidents who had died during office.
As long as he remembers he is running, I guess.
Biden speaks at White House Correspondents' Dinner Apr 30 2023
Hardly senile. Start from about 6.30, the earlier part is about detained journalists. Well worth the watch.
Sorry, the link got stuffed up somehow. Biden speaks at WH Correspondents' dinner.
I feel you get a good measure of Biden as he works the crowd.
Immovable. Trump can do what he likes and the Ginni Thomas brigade will support him.
What does it say about the GOP and it's rump base that the only candidate they can muster is a superannuiated sex offender and insurrectionist?
I read at salon.com that this ruling – and Trump's other upcoming legal problems – may act as a bizarre incentive to keep him in the presidential race, since the DOJ will always go softly softly on any presidential candidate.
Biden's unfavourability rating is almost entirely driven by concerns over his age, he moves like a very old man and he makes very old man mistakes when talking. As long as his campaign can assure voters he is up to the job he'll easily defeat Trump.
Then roll on AOC for a tilt?
What are your thoughts on Robert F. Kennedy Jr?
Evidence that not even Camelot can escape the Hapsburg jaw turning up eventually.
Heh…!
Perfect, ha ha apart from the fact that he is a mad anti vaxxer and member of the so-called Disinformation Dozen.
https://counterhate.com/research/the-disinformation-dozen/
Who knows what other stuff he supports.
The jaw may not have 'Hapsburged' but the mind is not on a par with either JFK or RJK.
His supporters will be
He didn't do it, and if he did do it, it was her fault, and what about Hunter Biden's laptop?
Luxon has just ruled out working with the Maori Party on ZB.
Whatever anyone says about the decision, I don't think there is any doubt it is a politically astute move.
Given that Labour is not really in a position where it can do the same, there is a fairly clear choice for voters now. Especially since there is quite a furore over co-governance at the moment.
The turnout number will be of interest…I suspect it will be particularly low
Don't know about "astute". Blind Freddy could see that it's the best thing to say – because irritation with TMP and Maori more generally is a core characteristic of your base. And also present at lower intensities outside your base.
Haven't heard anybody ask Luxon if John Key was therefore wrong to work with TMP during his term in office. Luxon would most likely warble away about circumstances bring different back then – at which point a decent interviewer would nail him to the floor by asking "so if circumstances change you might work with them?' Then the vacuous, prattling burbler would cut to his prepared script about "wasteful spending" as a way of escape – and a decent interviewer would cut him short. But hey, journalists, who needs real ones?
I guess you have to take the politics of each situation in its context. I think what Key did was a forward thinking move at the time. He didn't actually need TMP when elected. But could see that having them inside the tent could be useful in future elections where he might need their support.
In this case, I have my doubts that TMP would go with National anyway even if that option was available. So, I don't think there is too much downside for National in ruling them out. And, the politics of the situation are that Labour really can't afford to do the same. So, I think TMP has become a bit of a ball and chain for Labour now.
It will be interesting to see if National will rule NZ First out as well. This could really mess with voter's heads if they have to consider National/Act versus a possible Labour/Greens/TMP/NZ First coalition.
Unfortunately I think it's more than likely the tpm will gift the election to nact. They're coming across as pretty radical
And the answer to that question is "If the circumstances change, of course I might change with them. If TMP's leadership and policies were to change, then there is a chance to talk with them. But under the current circumstances – we are ruling them out."
Simples.
Which allows follow-up questions – "Which leaders and policies do you object to" etc. etc. However it ends, you get a decent interview.
I think TMP is a lot more radical than it was back in the Key times as well.
I think in the end this will be bad for them. Because, it will end up making them politically untouchable so long as there is wide spread resistance amongst voters to the co-governance concept.
So, if National wins this time around, I think Labour will have to rule out TMP in future elections due to a coalition involving TMP being seen as politically toxic for centre voters.
So, they may well end up having a presence in parliament, but never being in the position to achieve anything for their cause.
It will be interesting to see if National rules out NZ First as well. NZ First have already ruled out Labour. So, if National rules out NZ First, then there isn't much point in a protest vote to NZ First. Especially since National has already stolen NZ First's thunder by ruling out TMP.
Not much choice really, TMP base left them before because they supported National too much, to the degree that TMP lost all their MPs. Politically, TMP aren't really in a position to support National on much other than case-by-case legislation.
How strange for Luxon to be so decisive. Maybe there was no fence available for him to sit on?
Pretty slack for a man with potentially 21 boundries.
I just hope NZF gets 4.9 %-all right wing votes wasted because Peters has made it plain he will go with Luxon.
That is why I think ruling NZ First out is also a good idea. As I said, NZ First has ruled out Labour. So, if National rules out NZ First, there isn't any point voting for them.
Fed Farmers go ACT…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/300873696/from-fed-farmers-to-act-party-andrew-hoggard-goes-into-politics
Oh well, maybe the cholesterol overload will get to Mr Hoggard before he does too much damage! Bacon & eggs for breakfast, T-bone & chips for lunch, Roasted home kill beast for dinner…
Fed Farmers and their members have long been the filthiest of the dirty filthy tories when it comes down to it–profiting most of all from stolen and dubiously acquired land. They are in denial of post colonial fallout as they pour nitrates into the nation’s waterways via animal excretions from over fertilised industrial dairying operations.
For a Fed Farmers person to go ACT shows the desperation, the profitability crisis–plus they need cheap migrant labour and cruel live animal exporting and mud bog “winter farming” to keep their rate of profit up. Farmers crisis is a capitalist crisis.
It would be great to see the progressive farmer and horticulture groups coalesce together more often. Federated Farmers don't represent all farmers, and I sneakily suspect they don't represent a majority of them.
But we won't find that out until more progressive producers are prepared to poke their head above the parapet to face the next version of Howl of a Protest.
Fed Farmers is being outflanked on the right by Groundswell, which poses huge problems for the historic alliance between farmers and urban business that is the foundation of the National party.
The self-radicalisation of the right means there is a real possibility of ACT/Groundswell vying to replace National/Fed Farmers as the majoritry right wing political rural/urban alliance.
How bleak is that?
Not nearly as bleak as the coalition of chaos mustering on the left.
Thats right, because as they like to constantly remind us, the right always prefers the jackboot of Fascism to the messiness of democracy.
We have already seen chaos in Auckland resulting from climate change. And we can see the Nat-ACT boys intend to do nothing about emissions but whistle in the dark and wait for technology to turn up that will allow their farming & business backers to carry on exactly as they are – plus (maybe) some piss-weak concessions to adaptation.
When we see those things, it's completely clear who the real coalition of chaos is.
Well, the right don't like compromise or community, and see that as communism, so no real surprise that they and you? don't like listening to differing points of view.
They describe, by creating the "chaos" meme, any MMP coalition of 'other' groups, which are not Nats or Act.
Luxon thinks we only have one vote apparently, when clearly under MMP we have two.
There is a disconnect from community showing and a whiff of ‘my way’.imo.
My partner says that there are growers and farmers that are more 21st century and pro environment but they tend to be smaller producers, and some of them do get covered on the venerable “Country Calendar” these days. I have met a number in the Far North, which is a smallish, long geographic area when we do local markets so not so many baddies perhaps up here. But mid North down…
Not the first Fed worthy to have a go with ACT. Don Nicolson was ACT candidate in Clutha Southland in 2011 and 2014. He was #3 on ACT list in 2011 and #5 in 2014.
At an electorate level Nicolson got 796 votes, Tat Loo (Lab) got 5207, Bill cleaned up at 21,327. The same happened in 2014 with Todd Barclay as Nat candidate.
In both elections Nicolson's personal vote far exceeded ACT's party vote in the electorate.
OK it's a very different ACT party now but I think this illustrates that coming from a Fed Farmers presidency doesn't automatically translate to general election success.
Doubtful Hoggard could be as barking as Nicolson. But ya never know…
09:11, Jun 30 2011
Powerful people are manipulating us for their own ends, Don Nicolson believes. And the only way to defeat them is to allow free enterprise to have free rein.
The retiring president of Federated Farmers is convinced New Zealand is a victim of international job-creation schemes.
"There are senior people who absolutely know what they're doing," he says. "They've created industries by building complexity into everything. Every time they write something down – when it goes from the head to the paper – that's when we're lost."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/5211126/Free-enterprise-cooks-up-a-tasty-stew
Tat loo, wonder where he's at now, ??
Remember, tankies, a falling out between thieves delivered the USSR as an accidental ally to the West. Stalin had happily allied with Hitler to over run and divvy up large parts of Eastern Europe and provided fuel and raw materials for Hitler's invasions of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the fuel to bomb London.
Anton Shekhovtsov ✚
@A_SHEKH0VTS0V
“Victory day” in Russia, celebrating the Soviet occupation of half of Europe
https://twitter.com/A_SHEKH0VTS0V/status/1655823472533045249
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F90c165b4-1438-11eb-bca5-e85774a5f3b9.jpg?crop=3825%2C2152%2C141%2C258
Anti Sovietism remains the territory of vacillators and cowards. Much of the world would be have been “eating Bratwurst for breakfast” if not for the Russian people and their allies of WWII.
I'm sure tens of millions of Eastern Europeans were grateful to endure the controlling oppression, forced migration, and ethnic/cultural erasure imposed on them by their post-war colonisers.
.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1523688487265787906.html
It's a bit of a bastard when things don't work out quite the way you thought they would, eh.
And the Ukrainians suffered more than most as they were living in the area that much of the fighting took place in and which was occupied for a couple of years by the Nazis.
Stalin genocided 5 million Ukrainians in the early 1930s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
Not that they thank the US that provided Russia with vast amounts of equipment including over 11000 planes and 6000 tanks.
And for all that ant-Nazi talk from Russia, the Russians were very cosy with the Nazis at the start of the war.
When you mention allies of the Russian people do you mean Ukrainians?
Hitler started off by attacking Russia. I don't think he was thinking of attacking the British and French until Chamberlain declared war. The pact with Russia came about because he realized he would have deal with Western Europe first. Stalin probably went along with it because the respite gave him a chance sort out his own defenses. He probably guessed that Hitler would probably renege.
Hitler started off by attacking Russia.
You should do a little reading, friend.
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union; which marked the beginning of World War II.
Great news from Bakhmut, the Ulrainian 3rd Assault Brigade has apparently countrer-attacked and driven the Russians back 2.6km on a 3km front, a big advance in the context of the fighting there.
I mentioned the unit because it is a very interesting and a very powerful one. Formed from Azov units it is basically a fully mechanised reinforced brigade of three infantry and one tank battalion plus one each of an artillery, drone, and combat engineer battalion.
Twitter video shows close tank/infantry coooperation in a combined arms assault, which indicates the unit has benefited from western training. There are heaps and heaps of dead Russians in the imagery. Just lately a lot of video and still imagery showing very large numbers of Russian KIA have been showing up online, perhaps indicating the Ukrainians are not only inflicting very heavy losses on the Russian forces but defeating them as well and seizing/retaining control of the battle zone.
If one well trained and equipped brigade can rout the Wagner forces so thoroughly in a local counter-attack, that has got to be an encouraging sign.
US Imperialist and NATO backed…
Great news from Bakhmut indeed, and given UA has been conservative in releasing information, potentially even better news than it seems
Read something awhile ago about a NATO peer to peer based estimate that Poots needs 1900 troops /kilometre to hold a fortified front against mechanised and tank divisions that can choose to attack anywhere along the 800 kilometre front.
The Russian have built multiple lines of defense in the occupied regions along the expected axis of any Ukrainian offensive. These lines are very formidable, consisting of minefileds, strongpoints, anti-tank ditches, dragons teeth, and extensive earthworks. They don't need to be well manned, just have enough men to act as a speed bump to buy time for mobile reserves and force multipliers – especially Russian airpower, which the Ukrainians have no answer – to intervene.
The outcome is not certain at all.
The issue for the Russians is manpower. To effectively defend against an attack that the Ukrainians are looking like putting together requires sufficient manpower in an area of the frontlines of 30 km of around 50 to 90 thousand troops. They can do this in upward of 90 to 100 km of the front. Unfortunately for them they need to do so for 500 km unless they pick exactly the spot the Ukrainians will focus upon.
I thought Ukraine should ask the Finnish if they could enter Russia via Karelia – encircle St Petersburg – and then negotiate.![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
Well, the Fins did oblige NATO with another 1,340 kilometers of border to encircle Russia…
" These lines are very formidable, consisting of minefields, strongpoints, anti-tank ditches, dragons teeth, and extensive earthworks. They don't need to be well manned, just have enough men to act as a speed bump to buy time for mobile reserves and force multipliers"
That sounds rather like the French intentions when they built the Maginot line back before WW 2. How did that work out?
Nothing like the Maginot line, a closer analogy would be the field works built by the Soviets at Kursk or possibly the Hindenburg line in WW1. The difference with Kursk is the Soviets deployed 1,900,000 men over a 260km front, and the Hindenburg line was 140km long and manned by 20 divisions, around 350-400,000 men.
Yes, I saw that. Some rather graphic footage. But, good to see the success.
I have thought for awhile that Bakhmut would be a good place to launch a counter offensive for several reasons:
Firstly, the Russians are on attack, so won't tend to be as well dug in.
Secondly, there is a good chance for Ukraine to do a pincer movement by attacking from either side of the flanks, and effectively encircling a lot of Russian and Wagner soldiers.
Update: this Ukrainian attack saw the combat debut of the Bradley IFV. At least a pair of them were involved and the destroyed at least four BMPs with ease. The BMP is completely outclassed by the Bradley.
Even if the medical establishment refrain from to doing so, eventually the insurance companies will objectively assess risk:
https://genderclinicnews.substack.com/p/exposed
The risks to the insurer are completely different to any medical risks to the people treated by private physicians. The insurer’s decision was purely commercial and protecting the business, if that’s what you mean with “objectively”.
kind of like with climate change. The insurance companies see the writing on the wall before the general public or the professions/industries.
They are socialising the losses/risks to state-funded clinics and hospitals. It is purely a commercial decision. In Oregon, they went the other way, as per the article.
well, yes, obviously the insurance company's motivation is commercial, but the basis for that decision is complex and important social and medical issues. There's an irony in insurance companies reigning in the excesses of neoliberalism and the overmedicalisation of teens and children. Likewise with climate.
In Oregon the state is forcing insurers to provide cover for medical procedures. In Australia the insurer is withdrawing cover for surgeons if they are involved in claims from surgery that leaves detrans people with permanent disability (sued or prosecuted, I'm unclear from the article). Two different kinds of insurance.
The former is ideological against evidence and safe practice. Good to see detransition surgery covered, but it's pretty fucked up to enforce a questionable system and then pay for remedial surgery to try and mitigate the entirely predictable mistakes and damage. My guess is the state is overriding the insurance sector's commercial motivations.
The latter is the insurance company having watched what is happening with both detrans legal cases internationally, as well as research.
I think that both Molly and you are conflating different types of risks involved in medical transition for minors. The insurer's decision is based on the risk of legal liability for potential claims arising from unhappy or harmed patients who may sue for malpractice or negligence. This risk is influenced by the strength of evidence for the safety and efficacy of the treatments, the quality of informed consent obtained from the patients and their parents, and the availability of alternative options for addressing gender dysphoria. The insurer's decision is not based on the risk of medical harm to the patients themselves, which is a separate issue that should be evaluated by qualified health professionals on a case-by-case basis.
You also said that Oregon is forcing insurers to provide cover for medical procedures, but this is not entirely correct. The State of Oregon is requiring insurers to cover gender-affirming treatments that are deemed medically necessary by a health care provider, which may include cosmetic services or revisions to prior treatments. This does not mean that insurers have to cover any procedure that a patient requests, but rather that they have to follow the professional judgment of the provider. This is different from Australia, where the insurer is withdrawing cover for doctors who assess or initiate gender transition for patients under 18, regardless of their professional judgment or the hospital setting. In effect, the Australian insurer is removing the ability of doctors to act on sound clinical judgement.
Yes, I agree with you that there is an irony in insurance companies reigning in the excesses of neoliberalism and the over-medicalisation of teens and children, but I also think that there is a danger in relying on insurance companies to determine the standard of care for complex and controversial medical issues. Insurance companies are not neutral judges of scientific evidence or ethical principles; they are profit-driven entities that may have ulterior motives or conflicts of interest. They may also be influenced by political or social pressures, such as transphobic backlash or litigation threats. It seems to me that this might be another cynical ploy in yet another culture war (or is it just one big one?), which is why some appear to be rejoicing at this decision. Only more independent research and better guidelines for health professionals and patients is going to lead to better options for treatment, which includes psychological treatment.
We've seen this with earthquake cover in Wellington, where properties are unable to get cover, if they are not up to Govt standards. It's an issue with apartments in particular (the complication of strata title, as well as costs being beyond the ability of some residents to pay).
We're starting to see it with climate risk insurance.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/131169361/owners-of-floodprone-homes-will-pay-more-for-insurance
And, IMO, the sooner the better. Wealthy people can strong-arm the council with constant legal challenges to get to build what they want to, where they want to. They have no leverage over insurers. If they don't find the risk acceptable, they won't touch it with a barge pole.
Fair enough. Sensible…..enforces, hopefully, a period of what I call 'watchful waiting' until the person is 18 & over. The rush to transition and also the 'contagion' whereby groups of younger ones find a need to transition may abate by that stage with the move to new friends, moving on, time…….
To me it doesn't matter how a slow down occurs, whether by sensible society moves or by a withdrawing of insurance cover as long as the current madness is slowed.
Quote from the article
‘A physician who follows the gender clinic controversy told GCN he believed “this whole treatment area [of medicalised gender change for minors] has gone ahead without adequate evidence of, firstly, efficacy, and, secondly, safety’.
There is good dicussion in the article about the concept that this withdrawal of cover may force the consideration of requests to a multi group of specialists in a hospital setting. This can often include psychiatric help which has been lacking up until now.
Jordan Peterson who has not been my flavour of the month, has really risen in my estimation with his interviews drawing on his professional knowledge of the mental health and consent aspects.
The insurer is simply cutting its business risks it’s exposed to, it says so in the article. Anyway:
Your hopeful wish for 'watchful waiting' might be granted, especially when other insurers follow suit.
Yes the business is cutting its risks and you could say that this is because gender affirmation by chemicals designed to treat prostate cancer etcplus cross hormones, or 'heroic' ((meaning anything but) surgery as penises are fashioned out of forearms, made into vaginas, unnecessary hysterectomies and breast removals are done) is a risky business without much of a scientific or medical backing behind it.
The company would have thin grounds on which to support a member who may be taken to court.
To me it does not matter where the stopping comes from….having insurers cut back on costs for claiming and meeting litigation costs cases & the consequent restricting of access is as good a way as any.
Actually there is a lack of data, full stop, worldwide let alone 'good' data. An example is in Sweden which has pulled back on hormonal interventions…
https://segm.org/segm-summary-sweden-prioritizes-therapy-curbs-hormones-for-gender-dysphoric-youth
…
I think Finland & France have too.
I'm no fan of Greenwald but this is damn tough.
Awe Glenn taku arohanui kia koe me to whanau i tenei pouritanga. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/david-miranda-brazilian-congressman-and-husband-of-glenn-greenwald-dies-at-37-after-9-month-icu-battle/ar-AA1aWV84
When RWNJ's take over.
Teachers grew particularly alarmed early this year when word spread that Ken Witt, the new superintendent, did not plan to reapply for grants that covered the salaries of counselors and social workers.
At Gateway Elementary School in March, Witt told staff members he prioritized academic achievement, not students’ emotions. “We are not the department of health and human services,” he said, as teachers angrily objected, according to two recordings of the meeting made by staff members and shared with NBC News.
Someone in the meeting asked if taxpayers would get a say in these changes, and Witt said that they already did — when they elected the school board.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woodland-park-colorado-school-board-conservatives-rcna83311
Wow!
Not surprising the Bible makes an appearance in that particular little corner of looneyville. The surprise is the district superintendent is Ken Witt. 'Frank' would've suited him better then he officially could have been 'F Witt.'
(Board meetings go on line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R5eyqjK0po)