Interesting prediction: "Todd Muller also makes the list for his work first in climate change and now in agriculture. If Bridges misses out on the prime ministership, Muller will be Leader of the Opposition by the end of the year."
"On the Government side, Green leader Shaw made history last year with his Zero Carbon Bill. For all Ardern’s talk of her nuclear-free moment, it is Shaw alone who made that happen. In contrast to the far left of his party, he has actually achieved something radically important and assured its return later this year, another historic achievement."
while the Green Party’s Julie Anne Genter is popular among the public transport crowd, her aversion to roads has delayed major projects for years
Blatant bullshit. This government is still spending billions on roads and as Associate Minister primarily responsible for safety, Genter is not in charge of the overall budgets in any case. Shane's ignorant regurgitation of right-wing talking points reduces his usefulness as a commentator.
Green co-leader James Shaw should similarly remind Eugenie Sage which party she represents and tell her to stop just applying the law on things like foreign investment and get on and change it.
And more lazy ignoring of how much power the Greens actually have in this government to change anything that Winston does not want changed. It’s the same tactic as calling Ardern a do-nothing leader. With friends like Te Pou, who needs enemas.
Todd Muller also makes the list for his work first in climate change and now in agriculture. If Bridges misses out on the prime ministership, Muller will be Leader of the Opposition by the end of the year.
Muller was removed as Nat climate spokesperson for veering too far from his party's preferred stance and cooperating too much with Shaw. Yet next they are going to anoint him as leader? Don't give up that day job..
Yeah, he's typical Labour alright! Enough to make Helen Clark proud. I do agree with both your points. Lines of portfolio responsibility do actually need to be factored into political analysis. There's a reputational risk to ministers who attempt an over-reach. And we don't know the extent to which they do behind the scenes lobbying when it results in lack of success.
Why? Got any evidence for that? Sir Pete's mayor seems to be the problem according to this from Scoop: "Mayor Foster is not seeking a business case for a second Mt Victoria road tunnel." http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=122937
1) Supporting charter schools (ironic as he also supports Tomorrow's School. He and other supporters of charter schools dont get that under charter schools, parents get zero involvement in running schools).
Funny, eh? I quoted Newsroom's description of his Labour insider status deliberately. I presume he got that track record on the basis of the accomplishments you mention. Perhaps it shows that he's slightly to the right of HC…
Sen. Susan Collins is working with a ‘small group’ of GOP senators to allow impeachment witnesses
"House Democrats impeached Republican President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2019, but still have not transmitted the impeachment articles to the Senate, preventing the trial from starting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday the articles could be sent over next week.
Also on Friday, Collins told reporters that in Maine that she worked all week with a “fairly small group” of Republican senators and others in the party to try to make sure both House impeachment managers and representatives of Trump can call witnesses during the upcoming trial."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australian military was on standby to help firefighters and emergency agencies.
"I've given them very clear instructions that they are to stand ready to move and support immediately,'' Morrison said on Friday. "In the event that they are needed in the wake of what we hope we will not see today, but we must prepare for today.''
well lucky they are on stand by……
The military has already been involved in the unfolding crisis by clearing roads closed by fallen trees, burying dead cattle and sheep and providing fodder to surviving livestock.
but they could be doing so much more…….
A wind change from the south was predicted to hit the village on Friday night which officials fear could blow the flames in a new direction. Nightingale said he and the other firefighters would work to snuff out any spot fires that flare up to try and keep them from spreading. But if conditions became too dangerous, they would need to take shelter at a community hall, a solid structure with about 25,000 litres of water attached to it. Alongside the hall is a cleared, grassy area away from trees and shrubs where people can retreat as a last resort.
"The grass on the oval is very short so there's nothing to carry a strong fire,'' he said. "So that's a survival option, basically. A patch of grass. And if that happened, we'd have trucks and sprinklers going and hoses going, wetting people down. But I would hate it to come to that. Anything but that.''
My partner, the beersies drinking and bbq'ing laughting volunteer firefighter calls this the armageddon scenario – when you have no more options available and are totally out of beer and laughs.
The conservation group WWF-Australia estimates that 1.25 billion wild animals had died during the current fire crisis in addition to livestock losses, which the government expects will exceed 100,000 animals.
I am trying to wrap my mind around the number. I can't.
The majority of estimated losses were reptiles, followed by birds, then mammals such as koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas and wombats.
"Kangaroos can get away from fires. But a lot get burnt to a crisp stuck in a fence,'' Blanch said.
we need more fences obviously.
Btw, between yesterday to today we had three large fires (New Plymouth, Tauranga and Taupo) plus a whole lot of smaller ones.
that patch of grass defense, is this local firefighters who are willing to risk this because this is the community they live in and they're not going to abandon it? Is the risk in that scenario the heat? Or that the building might catch on fire?
this is when you have no more options to go anywhere because the fire is everywher and you are assembling anything alive on an area that does not risk a full burn and you hose them down to keep them alive.
btw, the fire in taupo is still ongoing, now involving helicopters and diggers.
edit: It is essentially the scenario where everyone runs to the beach and into the water to stay alive.
right, but I took it as firefighters and people who chose to stay rather than having evacuated earlier while they still could. Am wondering if the firefighters chose to stay to protect their community knowing there was a risk they would get trapped there.
no they don't 'choose'. The firefighters are there to fight the fire. Many could actually not get out in time.
look at it this way. You have a 1% chance to survive if you stay on a patch that may not burn and hose yourself down with water or you have a 100% chance of dying in your car while trying to get out. What do you do?
Also, really believe me, the firefighters that i know do not take risks with the life of people in their care. They really don't and maybe we need to stop this train of thought that we can pin this on the firefighters, professionals or voluntaries. They are not responsible for this event, they are trying their hardest to get it under control and save lives.
Also it pays to remember that the firefighter has no water to stand under, he is probably out there beating the flames with a cloth sack so that others have time to stand under the water and stay save.
nah, we'll just have some beers, roast some dead pig and have a laugh.
🙂 While fundraising for a new firetruck or something.
Honestly i have nothing but pity for the families of the dead guys in OZ. Chances are that there is nothing for them to help them over, and chances are that they now get the 'single women with children she can't afford' treatment while applying for benefits. Cause widows (with children) are considered 'single women with children' in our current world. Maybe something to consider?
The cost of deliberately erasing Aboriginal history.
"We're talking about a continent that's adapted to fire [and] they were a people who were here for 50,000 years who used fire as a management tool," he said.
Following European settlement and the displacement of the region's Aboriginal communities, traditional methods of land management ceased.
[…]
Practising 'cool' fire burning at field day
Dr Massy said that meant bringing farmers together with Aboriginal people to learn and practise techniques known as 'cool-burn patch' or 'mosaic' burning.
He recently hosted a Landcare field day on his family's 1,820-hectare sheep and cattle property, and nearly 50 people showed up to learn from Indigenous land manager, Rod Mason.
"It's very important for non-Indigenous people because they're the new land owners now," Mr Mason said.
The traditional method was to use small 'cool fires' to bring on fresh grass that would attract game for hunting.
The effect was to create a landscape over thousands of years which resulted in what the first explorers and settlers described as grassland or open woodland, using terms such as "like a park", as researched recently by award-winning historian, Bill Gammage.
Essentially, the technique involves burning a small patch in mild conditions, such as cool mornings or late afternoons in late autumn and early winter, and when there is little breeze
Yes, this and underfunding the fire department – for the paid fire force, the underfunding and neglect of the volunteer fire services and taking decision making away from the locals is what let to this disaster. And our need for mindless consumption, and our governments that actively promotes mindless consumption.
As far as i can see, Joe and Jane Six Packs and their children are fucked and on their own, and this reality has yet to properly hit. Those who lost their lifelyhood, homes and relatives to the fires already know this. The rest is still burying their heads into the sand, cause change is hard and we don't want to do hard things. .
People living in cars and chicken coops three months after the fire in northern NSW. The woman's story being reported says that the crisis is so large it's understandable they can't get to help everyone, but it's hard to fathom how local councils and NGOs aren't assisting here, or areas outside the fire zones.
do read this. is this the normal response to fires? to leave your people to live in the ashes, supported by crowdfunding appeals? https://t.co/XTVNZOiZrR
its one of the issues i have raised as a 'talking point' a few times now.
How many are homeless? How to handle such a crisis.
How many have lost businesses and are now unemployed? How to handle such a crisis.
How many will be seriously ill due to smoke, pollution and frankly unsanitary living arrangements? How to handle such a crisis.
What about the loan and credit crisis for the people that have lost homes, farms, businesses but have mortgages to pay? Any help available for those that are not farmers? And i say this not to denigrate farmers, but we seem to have funds to bail out farmers any time a natural or man made disaster strikes, but do we have something in place for everyone else?
What about schools? Hospitals, Clinics, etc that burned down.?
And last but least, would we be prepared in NZ were something like this to happen to us?
edit: The local council will have also have to deal with infrastructre burned down, their employees will likewise be without homes, water, electricty, maybe even be voluntary fire fighters.
And do we really now expect NGO’s to take over and do governments Job? Cause if that is the case, Why do we have a government? (I posted a video about an honest review of the OZ fires – yesterdays open mike – and this question was raised, if you have no seen the clip i suggest you do, the ozzie does a better job then i could ever do).
These are not question i raise because i am 'negative' or such, but these are questions that we need to ask if we want to look at the future and have something akin to a plan in place. And frankly i think we here in NZ are no more better prepared and funded for that matter then the guys in OZ. We can look at the immediate handling in CHCH after the earthquakes. It is ok for a few weeks to live in a tent with a Port a Potty, but how long can you expect people to do in case of a large scale disaster such as the devastation caused in Oz?
I agree Sabine, they're important questions and not enough people are asking them yet. I also think that NZ is badly prepared, for a big quake and/or tsunami, and for climate change.
There's a community on the West Coast that is preparing for several months without support after a big Alpine Fault quake. Impressive. I think the 3 days promoted by CD is now woefully inadequate.
I'm not sure if the local council lost its building (and council people lost their homes), but it's not like every community has been that damaged, and certainly the big cities are still intact, so why are they not stepping up? I'm struggling to see the underlying processes that have broken down. But then I thought that about Chch too, especially how the Eastern suburbs were treated.
because the damage is why more and far more spread then we know
because there is no electricty – substations, powerpoles, transforemers etc all burned.
because there is no phone – no communication
because there is no water – water purification, water transport, etc all fucked
because it is mayhem. And because you have cynical bastard that is currently shitting his depends looking at the damage and trying to put a dollar sign on it, same for the insurance companies, same for the banks. And they rather not talk about it.
Seriously, look at the maps and remind yourself that these fires have been ongoing since September now, and we really have no idea about just how bad it is. You don't loose 64 houses in a small outback village (as per the thread above) and wonder why things are not working. And you still have three month of summer – with the worst heat – to come.
Besides, they very well to do people of OZ will not have any of these issues, that is reserved for us humble peasants.
As for us here in NZ, amuse yourself and find out where your local shelter is, or your local assembly place in case of a disaster. Tell me if you find something. Becuase in AKL – where i last checked a few years ago, the message was "Will be advised when the issue arises 🙂 Yeah, right TUI" and in Tauranga when they had the floods two / three years ago my friend wanting to know where to evacuate to was told on the phone by the operator to look up it up, and when she did that the webpage she was advised to use was down.
Processes have to be established before they can fail. We don't have processes in place and i would guess neither do they in Oz.
Reply to Sabine – in a big disaster (probably any big disaster) you pretty much have to look after yourself and those around you in the immediate aftermath at least. I think most people have no idea that there may be no driveable roads, maybe no petrol, no shops or cash only shops, no electricity, water or mobile connections (owing to overload) so like you say – it is important to have some plan in advance for what to do and where to evacuate to.
Re immediate aftermath example, on the day of the Feb 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch (severe earthquake but only seriously affecting about half of Christchurch) my texts both in and out kept repeating for about 10 hours and some people didn't receive my texts til hours later.
Some longer term examples – people were living in the sand dunes at the beach for months afterwards, my neighborhood (and others in the east) had portaloos from September 2010 for months until we were red zoned and then until everyone finally got kicked out in June 2013.
My point being, in a small first world modern city we struggled – we did have a huge amount of help but it takes a long time to get going and a long time to fix (many are still not "fixed" and I know 2 or 3 people who have only just settled their claims last year). So for the short term at least, get a plan, find a place to go to, have access to your hot water cylinder water (get a tap fitted underneath), have an old plug in phone (if you have a landline), keep some cash and keep your community links strong.
How Aboriginal history and technology was deliberately erased by the white settlers in Australia to justify their terra nullius thievery and slaughter of the original inhabitants.
Isaac Batey saw that the hillsides of Melbourne were terraced in the process of yam production and that the tilth of the soil was so light you could run your fingers through it. Mitchell saw these yam fields stretching as far as he could see near Gariwerd (Grampians). He extolled the beauty of these plains assuming that God had made them so that he could ‘discover’ them, not once thinking how peculiar it was for the best soil in the country to have almost no trees. This was a managed field of harvest. George Augustus Robinson saw women stretched across those same fields of horticulture in the process of harvesting the tubers.
Charles Sturt had his life saved in Central Australia when he came upon people who were harvesting a river valley and supplied him with water, from their well, roast duck and cake. Both Mitchell and Sturt described the baked goods as the lightest and sweetest they had ever tasted. How many historians have read those comments and yet not one has considered that it would be in the nation’s commercial and culinary interests to find out the particular grasses from which those flours were made?
E.M. Curr noticed that as he brought the first vehicle into the plains south of Echuca his cart wheels ‘turned up bushels of tubers’. Once again some of Australia’s best soils were almost bereft of trees, the plains having been horticulturally altered to provide permanent harvests of tubers. Unlike Mitchell’s self-indulgent congratulations, Curr was aware who had produced this productivity and later recognised that it was his sheep that destroyed it.
Of course MBA's and bean counters will be behind this.
“This airplane is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” one company pilot said in a message to a colleague in 2016, referring to the 737 Max https://t.co/e73frlVrqV
“I just jedi mind tricked this fools. I should be given $1,000 every time I take one of these calls. I save this company a sick amount of $$$$.”
“Would you put your family on a MAX simulator trained aircraft? I wouldn’t.”
“I’ll be shocked if the FAA passes this turd.”
“This is a joke. This airplane is ridiculous.”
“Best part is we are re-starting this whole thing with the 777X with the same supplier and have signed up to an even more aggressive schedule!”
“Jesus, it’s doomed.”
[…]
“I am concerned that if [redacted] chooses to require a Max simulator for its pilots beyond what all other regulators are requiring that it will be creating a difficult and unnecessary training burden for your airline, as well as potentially establish a precedent in your region for other Max customers,” the Boeing pilot wrote in the forwarded message.
An unidentified Boeing employee in a different text message exchange brags about swaying India’s regulator “to make them feel stupid about trying to require any additional training requirements.”
Added the sender: “I just Jedi mind tricked this [sic] fools. I should be given $1000 every time I take one of these calls. I save this company a sick amount of $$$$.”
This is a direct result of underfunding of the FAA and the deregulation of the Aircraft industry and handing the oversight of certification of aircraft to the industry.
WASHINGTON — Seven years ago, an internal government watchdog took a hard look at the part of the Federal Aviation Administration responsible for certifying new Boeing jetliners. The watchdog’s investigation came to some alarming conclusions.
F.A.A. employees viewed their management, the inquiry by the Transportation Department’s inspector general’s office found, as “having too close a relationship with Boeing officials.” F.A.A. managers, the report said, had not always backed efforts by agency employees “to hold Boeing accountable,” and employees feared retaliation for trying to do so.
The part of the F.A.A. under scrutiny, the Transport Airplane Directorate, was led at the time by an aerospace engineer named Ali Bahrami. The next year, he took a job at the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group whose members include Boeing. In that position, he urged his former agency to allow manufacturers like Boeing to perform as much of the work of certifying new planes as possible.
The question of whether the F.A.A. has gone too far in allowing Boeing to regulate itself has emerged as one of the key issues after the crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia this month, the second deadly crash of the new plane in less than five months. The practice is already coming under scrutiny from Congress, and lawmakers are likely to press the F.A.A.’s acting administrator on Wednesday when he appears at a Senate hearing.
Attention Jenny, for the last time, because I am tiring wasting my time on this (and I have no obligation to do this):
You seem to still not understand why you are in Moderation and below is a timeline of relevant stuff.
You are also disconnected from other comments, replies (incl. to your own comments), moderation notes to you, and your comments ending up in Trash. Commenters who are only/largely interested in using TS as medium/platform to hear their own voice and who are or appear to be largely oblivious of the TS community should start their own blog. I don’t care either way.
Besides this, 1) you don’t call out others by giving them incorrect labels, and 2) you don’t interfere with moderation. These are the two main reasons why you ended up and still are in Moderation.
Weka replied a few times to FoRo to get him to explain his comments before moderation started.
2020/01/04 at 8:17 am (comment by FoRo moved to OM & moderated)
2020/01/04 at 12:11 pm (comment by FoRo moved to OM)
2020/01/04 at 1:16 pm (comment by FoRo moderated)
2020/01/05 at 10:55 am (comment by FoRo moved to OM)
On 5 Jan Jenny replied 3 times to FoRo but no response from FoRo.
2020/01/05 at 4:51 pm (Jenny replies to Sacha; moans that FoRo refuses to debate (presumably with Jenny; calls him a troll) – answering/replying to other commenters is not compulsory but responding to Moderation is.
5 January 2020 at 5:14 pm (Incognito replies to Jenny stating that FoRo is not trolling but is trying to explain his position to Weka, i.e. he’s responding to Moderation; Incognito warns Jenny to stay out of Moderation).
2020/01/06 at 10:50 am (Jenny put into Moderation; moans again about FoRo not engaging (with her); calls him a “right wing troll”; does not acknowledge that FoRo was actively being monitored/moderated and that she needs to butt out of moderation).
Jenny makes 13 comments unrelated to her own moderation while in Moderation, which all end up in Trash; doesn’t realise or doesn’t care.
2020/01/11 at 12:21 am (in Trash; Jenny asks how long ban is for – has already been explained to her; reckons she’s in “good company” (!?) if ban is permanent; takes a swipe at RedLogix and FoRo).
Yep. I'm pretty much over spending my time chasing people up to respond to moderation. Regulars here should know by now that if their comments don't appear they need to go back and look for their last comment and see the moderation note attached. Responding to that will get moderators to sort things out. Spamming the Trash folder (or trying to litigate there) won't. In the end it all comes down to not wasting moderator time (I'd rather be writing posts).
I've seen the claim several places, but does anyone have video or a reliable news source confirming Trump adviser Sean Hannity said on-air, online, or on radio that Iran was about to be hit by B52s shortly before an Iranian battery allegedly mistook an airliner for a US warplane?
(I ask because no country, having been told by the leader of a geopolitical foe that it could be bombed at any time, would fail to monitor the communications of a top adviser to that leader who happened to be *on-air* at the time of a potential airstrike. So this *does* matter.)
VIDEO/ OK, here it is…and…{*sigh*}… JFC—I hate this. It's bad. Bad because he did what folks said, there's no doubt Iran was watching, and based on the Trump-Hannity history of near-daily contact it's possible his source for this fake news was POTUS. https://t.co/yYbBLTkHZJ
n the hours after the missile strikes, US terrorist forces' warplanes around the country increased, and some reports of air strikes targeting strategic centers in the country were reported to numerous defense units and targets on some radar plates. It has caused more sensitivity in air defense units.
In such critical conditions, the Ukrainian Airlines departs from Imam Khomeini Airport and, while in rotation, was in close proximity to a sensitive military center of the IRGC and in a height and shape of a hostile aircraft. In these circumstances, the plane was accidentally hit by a human error, which unfortunately results in the martyrdom of dear compatriots and the death of a number of foreign nationals.
The Armed Forces General Staff sends condolences to the families of missing persons of other countries and apologizes for the human error, ensures that this will not happen again by carrying out major reforms in operational processes at armed forces level to make such errors impossible and immediately report it to the Armed Forces Judicial Organization to deal with the errors committed legally.
snip
After the USS Vincennes in 1989 shot down Iran Air Flight 655 and killed 290 people, including many children, the U.S. government denied any culpability. George H. W. Bush, the vice president of the United States at the time, commented: "I will never apologize for the United States – I don't care what the facts are… I'm not an apologize-for-America kind of guy." Despite its "error" the crew was given medals and the captain was even awarded a Legion of Merit "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer …".
i agree with B's comment that the Iranian officer most likely will not receive a medal.
After initial denials US officials lied through their teeth, asserting the airliner was rapidly descending and was headed toward the Vincennes in an attack profile, when in fact their own onboard systems recorded the airliner climbing and other US warships in the area had identified the aircraft as civilian and that the flight was well within a recognized international air corridor.
A month after the loss of 290 lives VP Bush declared
I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are. … I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy
and despite mealy mouthed notes of regret for the loss of human lives, the US has never formally apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.
To rub in the salt, the Vincennes crew were awarded combat ribbons with no acknowledgement of the incident and it took eight years before any compensation was offered to the victims families.
In the days immediately following the incident, US President Ronald Reagan issued a written diplomatic note to the Iranian government, expressing deep regret.[11]
Maybe you should get the wikipedia page altered to suit.
Probably not your cup of tea music wise joe90 but a anarchist mate was at one of their concerts recently, and the place got flooded with police who shut them down when they started playing this song.
Been talking with mates in Russia and Putin is freaking out over popular music at the moment. Little Big, IC3PEAK and others are having concerts pulled even before they play. His control not as solid as it once was, especially with the youth.
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Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
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The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
But Will She Keep Smiling? Kindness is as kindness does. And the one thing kindness cannot do is force people to be kind. Understanding that was the single most important factor in the Prime Minister’s success at stamping out the Coronavirus. She took New Zealanders with her; she encouraged them ...
Completed reads for 2020: The History of the Britons, by NenniusThe Annales CambriaeThe Life of King Alfred, by AsserThe Wood Beyond the World, by William MorrisThe Life of Merlin, by Geoffrey of MonmouthThe History of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of MonmouthThe Life of Gildas, by Caradoc ...
As per my blog tradition, here is where my blog viewers came from in 2020: United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaAustraliaNew ZealandBrazilGermanySpainSwedenThe Netherlands The top four remain as per 2019. After four years at #6, New Zealand gains a spot. Brazil is up four, and The Netherlands jumps from #16 to #10. ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The threatened Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will keep operating through to the end of December 2024, in a new deal just announced to the New Zealand stock exchange. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced last year it was closing Tiwai due to high energy and transmission costs. Meridian Energy said that ...
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith University The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our paper out today. The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin University Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Young, Lecturer, Deakin University Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th. Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished ...
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events. Whakaari after its eruption in 2019. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury ...
Summer reissue: Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Stacy Gregg, author of Pony Club Secrets and The Princess and ...
Summer reissue: The latest episode of Bad News follows Alice Snedden on a quest to expose the double standards around nudity, and break down the barriers by getting the first-ever topless scene on Shortland Street.First published August 25, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
While the protests at Waikeria shine a light on prisoner conditions, abuses of power and inhumane treatment in prison are not new and will continue until prisoner numbers significantly reduce, writes Christine McCarthy The recent six-day Waikeria protest highlighted problems at that prison, but it is not unique. The December ...
Shane Te Pou is a former candidate, campaign manager and executive member of the Labour Party. He previews election 2020: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@politics/2020/01/08/976532/the-stars-the-safe-pairs-of-hands-and-the-disasters
Interesting prediction: "Todd Muller also makes the list for his work first in climate change and now in agriculture. If Bridges misses out on the prime ministership, Muller will be Leader of the Opposition by the end of the year."
"On the Government side, Green leader Shaw made history last year with his Zero Carbon Bill. For all Ardern’s talk of her nuclear-free moment, it is Shaw alone who made that happen. In contrast to the far left of his party, he has actually achieved something radically important and assured its return later this year, another historic achievement."
Blatant bullshit. This government is still spending billions on roads and as Associate Minister primarily responsible for safety, Genter is not in charge of the overall budgets in any case. Shane's ignorant regurgitation of right-wing talking points reduces his usefulness as a commentator.
And more lazy ignoring of how much power the Greens actually have in this government to change anything that Winston does not want changed. It’s the same tactic as calling Ardern a do-nothing leader. With friends like Te Pou, who needs enemas.
Muller was removed as Nat climate spokesperson for veering too far from his party's preferred stance and cooperating too much with Shaw. Yet next they are going to anoint him as leader? Don't give up that day job..
I wasn't all that impressed either. Get the feeling he is just repeating current MSM political credo.
Lazy thinking, basically.
Yeah, he's typical Labour alright! Enough to make Helen Clark proud. I do agree with both your points. Lines of portfolio responsibility do actually need to be factored into political analysis. There's a reputational risk to ministers who attempt an over-reach. And we don't know the extent to which they do behind the scenes lobbying when it results in lack of success.
He's typical Labour's too left all right fraxie.
Bullshit to your bullshit.
You can thank her for the second Mt Vic tunnel that isn’t happening.
Why? Got any evidence for that? Sir Pete's mayor seems to be the problem according to this from Scoop: "Mayor Foster is not seeking a business case for a second Mt Victoria road tunnel." http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=122937
Sequencing of one part of a bigger regional programme, sure. Not cancelled. The rest of the claim is regurgitated bullshit.
Shane Te Pou is on record as:
1) Supporting charter schools (ironic as he also supports Tomorrow's School. He and other supporters of charter schools dont get that under charter schools, parents get zero involvement in running schools).
2) Supporting mining in national parks.
Just as an FYI
Funny, eh? I quoted Newsroom's description of his Labour insider status deliberately. I presume he got that track record on the basis of the accomplishments you mention. Perhaps it shows that he's slightly to the right of HC…
And you’re on record as saying that a man who walked into WINZ offices and shot innocent employees dead should be held up as a hero.
just as a FYI
[FFS, James! Address the content. Do not start a flame war with an attack on a commenter. You must be itching for another ban – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 5:42 PM.
Sen. Susan Collins is working with a ‘small group’ of GOP senators to allow impeachment witnesses
"House Democrats impeached Republican President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2019, but still have not transmitted the impeachment articles to the Senate, preventing the trial from starting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday the articles could be sent over next week.
Also on Friday, Collins told reporters that in Maine that she worked all week with a “fairly small group” of Republican senators and others in the party to try to make sure both House impeachment managers and representatives of Trump can call witnesses during the upcoming trial."
https://www.theepochtimes.com/sen-susan-collins-working-with-small-group-of-gop-senators-to-allow-impeachment-witnesses_3200320.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/resolution-to-submit-trump-impeachment-articles-to-the-senate-could-be-introduced-next-week-pelosi_3200175.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/118724735/australians-leave-homes-as-heat-winds-escalate-fire-danger
well lucky they are on stand by……
but they could be doing so much more…….
My partner, the beersies drinking and bbq'ing laughting volunteer firefighter calls this the armageddon scenario – when you have no more options available and are totally out of beer and laughs.
I am trying to wrap my mind around the number. I can't.
we need more fences obviously.
Btw, between yesterday to today we had three large fires (New Plymouth, Tauranga and Taupo) plus a whole lot of smaller ones.
So far we have been very lucky.
that patch of grass defense, is this local firefighters who are willing to risk this because this is the community they live in and they're not going to abandon it? Is the risk in that scenario the heat? Or that the building might catch on fire?
this is when you have no more options to go anywhere because the fire is everywher and you are assembling anything alive on an area that does not risk a full burn and you hose them down to keep them alive.
btw, the fire in taupo is still ongoing, now involving helicopters and diggers.
edit: It is essentially the scenario where everyone runs to the beach and into the water to stay alive.
right, but I took it as firefighters and people who chose to stay rather than having evacuated earlier while they still could. Am wondering if the firefighters chose to stay to protect their community knowing there was a risk they would get trapped there.
no they don't 'choose'. The firefighters are there to fight the fire. Many could actually not get out in time.
look at it this way. You have a 1% chance to survive if you stay on a patch that may not burn and hose yourself down with water or you have a 100% chance of dying in your car while trying to get out. What do you do?
Also, really believe me, the firefighters that i know do not take risks with the life of people in their care. They really don't and maybe we need to stop this train of thought that we can pin this on the firefighters, professionals or voluntaries. They are not responsible for this event, they are trying their hardest to get it under control and save lives.
Also it pays to remember that the firefighter has no water to stand under, he is probably out there beating the flames with a cloth sack so that others have time to stand under the water and stay save.
are you following the NZ fires online somewhere?
my partner is a voluntary firefighter and we get the updates of all the fires.
And when the beeper goes, i wave him goodbye and hope he comes home in one piece.
As all of us 'spouses' do.
And frankly we have been so lucky so far.
That must be scary.
it’s a hell of a job they do. Can’t be easy for those at home either.
nah, we'll just have some beers, roast some dead pig and have a laugh.
🙂 While fundraising for a new firetruck or something.
Honestly i have nothing but pity for the families of the dead guys in OZ. Chances are that there is nothing for them to help them over, and chances are that they now get the 'single women with children she can't afford' treatment while applying for benefits. Cause widows (with children) are considered 'single women with children' in our current world. Maybe something to consider?
The cost of deliberately erasing Aboriginal history.
"We're talking about a continent that's adapted to fire [and] they were a people who were here for 50,000 years who used fire as a management tool," he said.
Following European settlement and the displacement of the region's Aboriginal communities, traditional methods of land management ceased.
[…]
Practising 'cool' fire burning at field day
Dr Massy said that meant bringing farmers together with Aboriginal people to learn and practise techniques known as 'cool-burn patch' or 'mosaic' burning.
He recently hosted a Landcare field day on his family's 1,820-hectare sheep and cattle property, and nearly 50 people showed up to learn from Indigenous land manager, Rod Mason.
"It's very important for non-Indigenous people because they're the new land owners now," Mr Mason said.
The traditional method was to use small 'cool fires' to bring on fresh grass that would attract game for hunting.
The effect was to create a landscape over thousands of years which resulted in what the first explorers and settlers described as grassland or open woodland, using terms such as "like a park", as researched recently by award-winning historian, Bill Gammage.
Essentially, the technique involves burning a small patch in mild conditions, such as cool mornings or late afternoons in late autumn and early winter, and when there is little breeze
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-24/monaro-farmers-use-aboriginal-cool-burn-fires-to-recover/7440824?
Yes, this and underfunding the fire department – for the paid fire force, the underfunding and neglect of the volunteer fire services and taking decision making away from the locals is what let to this disaster. And our need for mindless consumption, and our governments that actively promotes mindless consumption.
As far as i can see, Joe and Jane Six Packs and their children are fucked and on their own, and this reality has yet to properly hit. Those who lost their lifelyhood, homes and relatives to the fires already know this. The rest is still burying their heads into the sand, cause change is hard and we don't want to do hard things. .
People living in cars and chicken coops three months after the fire in northern NSW. The woman's story being reported says that the crisis is so large it's understandable they can't get to help everyone, but it's hard to fathom how local councils and NGOs aren't assisting here, or areas outside the fire zones.
its one of the issues i have raised as a 'talking point' a few times now.
How many are homeless? How to handle such a crisis.
How many have lost businesses and are now unemployed? How to handle such a crisis.
How many will be seriously ill due to smoke, pollution and frankly unsanitary living arrangements? How to handle such a crisis.
What about the loan and credit crisis for the people that have lost homes, farms, businesses but have mortgages to pay? Any help available for those that are not farmers? And i say this not to denigrate farmers, but we seem to have funds to bail out farmers any time a natural or man made disaster strikes, but do we have something in place for everyone else?
What about schools? Hospitals, Clinics, etc that burned down.?
And last but least, would we be prepared in NZ were something like this to happen to us?
edit: The local council will have also have to deal with infrastructre burned down, their employees will likewise be without homes, water, electricty, maybe even be voluntary fire fighters.
And do we really now expect NGO’s to take over and do governments Job? Cause if that is the case, Why do we have a government? (I posted a video about an honest review of the OZ fires – yesterdays open mike – and this question was raised, if you have no seen the clip i suggest you do, the ozzie does a better job then i could ever do).
These are not question i raise because i am 'negative' or such, but these are questions that we need to ask if we want to look at the future and have something akin to a plan in place. And frankly i think we here in NZ are no more better prepared and funded for that matter then the guys in OZ. We can look at the immediate handling in CHCH after the earthquakes. It is ok for a few weeks to live in a tent with a Port a Potty, but how long can you expect people to do in case of a large scale disaster such as the devastation caused in Oz?
I agree Sabine, they're important questions and not enough people are asking them yet. I also think that NZ is badly prepared, for a big quake and/or tsunami, and for climate change.
There's a community on the West Coast that is preparing for several months without support after a big Alpine Fault quake. Impressive. I think the 3 days promoted by CD is now woefully inadequate.
I'm not sure if the local council lost its building (and council people lost their homes), but it's not like every community has been that damaged, and certainly the big cities are still intact, so why are they not stepping up? I'm struggling to see the underlying processes that have broken down. But then I thought that about Chch too, especially how the Eastern suburbs were treated.
because the fires are ongoing.
because the damage is why more and far more spread then we know
because there is no electricty – substations, powerpoles, transforemers etc all burned.
because there is no phone – no communication
because there is no water – water purification, water transport, etc all fucked
because it is mayhem. And because you have cynical bastard that is currently shitting his depends looking at the damage and trying to put a dollar sign on it, same for the insurance companies, same for the banks. And they rather not talk about it.
Seriously, look at the maps and remind yourself that these fires have been ongoing since September now, and we really have no idea about just how bad it is. You don't loose 64 houses in a small outback village (as per the thread above) and wonder why things are not working. And you still have three month of summer – with the worst heat – to come.
Besides, they very well to do people of OZ will not have any of these issues, that is reserved for us humble peasants.
As for us here in NZ, amuse yourself and find out where your local shelter is, or your local assembly place in case of a disaster. Tell me if you find something. Becuase in AKL – where i last checked a few years ago, the message was "Will be advised when the issue arises 🙂 Yeah, right TUI" and in Tauranga when they had the floods two / three years ago my friend wanting to know where to evacuate to was told on the phone by the operator to look up it up, and when she did that the webpage she was advised to use was down.
Processes have to be established before they can fail. We don't have processes in place and i would guess neither do they in Oz.
Reply to Sabine – in a big disaster (probably any big disaster) you pretty much have to look after yourself and those around you in the immediate aftermath at least. I think most people have no idea that there may be no driveable roads, maybe no petrol, no shops or cash only shops, no electricity, water or mobile connections (owing to overload) so like you say – it is important to have some plan in advance for what to do and where to evacuate to.
Re immediate aftermath example, on the day of the Feb 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch (severe earthquake but only seriously affecting about half of Christchurch) my texts both in and out kept repeating for about 10 hours and some people didn't receive my texts til hours later.
Some longer term examples – people were living in the sand dunes at the beach for months afterwards, my neighborhood (and others in the east) had portaloos from September 2010 for months until we were red zoned and then until everyone finally got kicked out in June 2013.
My point being, in a small first world modern city we struggled – we did have a huge amount of help but it takes a long time to get going and a long time to fix (many are still not "fixed" and I know 2 or 3 people who have only just settled their claims last year). So for the short term at least, get a plan, find a place to go to, have access to your hot water cylinder water (get a tap fitted underneath), have an old plug in phone (if you have a landline), keep some cash and keep your community links strong.
How Aboriginal history and technology was deliberately erased by the white settlers in Australia to justify their terra nullius thievery and slaughter of the original inhabitants.
Isaac Batey saw that the hillsides of Melbourne were terraced in the process of yam production and that the tilth of the soil was so light you could run your fingers through it. Mitchell saw these yam fields stretching as far as he could see near Gariwerd (Grampians). He extolled the beauty of these plains assuming that God had made them so that he could ‘discover’ them, not once thinking how peculiar it was for the best soil in the country to have almost no trees. This was a managed field of harvest. George Augustus Robinson saw women stretched across those same fields of horticulture in the process of harvesting the tubers.
Charles Sturt had his life saved in Central Australia when he came upon people who were harvesting a river valley and supplied him with water, from their well, roast duck and cake. Both Mitchell and Sturt described the baked goods as the lightest and sweetest they had ever tasted. How many historians have read those comments and yet not one has considered that it would be in the nation’s commercial and culinary interests to find out the particular grasses from which those flours were made?
E.M. Curr noticed that as he brought the first vehicle into the plains south of Echuca his cart wheels ‘turned up bushels of tubers’. Once again some of Australia’s best soils were almost bereft of trees, the plains having been horticulturally altered to provide permanent harvests of tubers. Unlike Mitchell’s self-indulgent congratulations, Curr was aware who had produced this productivity and later recognised that it was his sheep that destroyed it.
http://archive.li/Vi9vR
Of course MBA's and bean counters will be behind this.
Some of the most notable messages:
[…]
“I am concerned that if [redacted] chooses to require a Max simulator for its pilots beyond what all other regulators are requiring that it will be creating a difficult and unnecessary training burden for your airline, as well as potentially establish a precedent in your region for other Max customers,” the Boeing pilot wrote in the forwarded message.
An unidentified Boeing employee in a different text message exchange brags about swaying India’s regulator “to make them feel stupid about trying to require any additional training requirements.”
Added the sender: “I just Jedi mind tricked this [sic] fools. I should be given $1000 every time I take one of these calls. I save this company a sick amount of $$$$.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-10/-incredibly-damning-boeing-messages-show-employee-unease-on-max
This is a direct result of underfunding of the FAA and the deregulation of the Aircraft industry and handing the oversight of certification of aircraft to the industry.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/boeing-faa.html
Attention Jenny, for the last time, because I am tiring wasting my time on this (and I have no obligation to do this):
You seem to still not understand why you are in Moderation and below is a timeline of relevant stuff.
You are also disconnected from other comments, replies (incl. to your own comments), moderation notes to you, and your comments ending up in Trash. Commenters who are only/largely interested in using TS as medium/platform to hear their own voice and who are or appear to be largely oblivious of the TS community should start their own blog. I don’t care either way.
Besides this, 1) you don’t call out others by giving them incorrect labels, and 2) you don’t interfere with moderation. These are the two main reasons why you ended up and still are in Moderation.
Weka replied a few times to FoRo to get him to explain his comments before moderation started.
2020/01/04 at 8:17 am (comment by FoRo moved to OM & moderated)
2020/01/04 at 12:11 pm (comment by FoRo moved to OM)
2020/01/04 at 1:16 pm (comment by FoRo moderated)
2020/01/05 at 10:55 am (comment by FoRo moved to OM)
On 5 Jan Jenny replied 3 times to FoRo but no response from FoRo.
2020/01/05 at 4:51 pm (Jenny replies to Sacha; moans that FoRo refuses to debate (presumably with Jenny; calls him a troll) – answering/replying to other commenters is not compulsory but responding to Moderation is.
5 January 2020 at 5:14 pm (Incognito replies to Jenny stating that FoRo is not trolling but is trying to explain his position to Weka, i.e. he’s responding to Moderation; Incognito warns Jenny to stay out of Moderation).
2020/01/06 at 10:50 am (Jenny put into Moderation; moans again about FoRo not engaging (with her); calls him a “right wing troll”; does not acknowledge that FoRo was actively being monitored/moderated and that she needs to butt out of moderation).
Jenny makes 13 comments unrelated to her own moderation while in Moderation, which all end up in Trash; doesn’t realise or doesn’t care.
2020/01/11 at 12:21 am (in Trash; Jenny asks how long ban is for – has already been explained to her; reckons she’s in “good company” (!?) if ban is permanent; takes a swipe at RedLogix and FoRo).
I feel tired just reading that.
Sorry. Sleep on it 😉
Yep. I'm pretty much over spending my time chasing people up to respond to moderation. Regulars here should know by now that if their comments don't appear they need to go back and look for their last comment and see the moderation note attached. Responding to that will get moderators to sort things out. Spamming the Trash folder (or trying to litigate there) won't. In the end it all comes down to not wasting moderator time (I'd rather be writing posts).
and so it goes,
Iran admitted to accidentally shooting down the plane. From Al Jazeera.
More news forthcoming.
This year is gonna be so interesting.
This week has been an interesting year.
(I ask because no country, having been told by the leader of a geopolitical foe that it could be bombed at any time, would fail to monitor the communications of a top adviser to that leader who happened to be *on-air* at the time of a potential airstrike. So this *does* matter.)
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1215337524064915456.html
this is a good summary
i agree with B's comment that the Iranian officer most likely will not receive a medal.
Thanks Sabine. Read the Stuff article 5 mins ago and my immediate reaction:
If the US accidently shot down an Iranian plane with a missile they would never own up to it.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/118731355/iran-says-it-unintentionally-shot-down-ukrainian-jetliner
If the US accidently shot down an Iranian plane with a missile they would never own up to it.
The USS Vincennes incident with Iran Air Flight 655 suggests otherwise.
After initial denials US officials lied through their teeth, asserting the airliner was rapidly descending and was headed toward the Vincennes in an attack profile, when in fact their own onboard systems recorded the airliner climbing and other US warships in the area had identified the aircraft as civilian and that the flight was well within a recognized international air corridor.
A month after the loss of 290 lives VP Bush declared
and despite mealy mouthed notes of regret for the loss of human lives, the US has never formally apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.
To rub in the salt, the Vincennes crew were awarded combat ribbons with no acknowledgement of the incident and it took eight years before any compensation was offered to the victims families.
Maybe you should get the wikipedia page altered to suit.
Yes. That was what I was thanking Sabine for. 😉
I read Stuff piece prior to seeing Sabine's post and thought… now the US wouldn't own up to it would they. Forgot about 1989 incident.
Should add… neither do the Russians own up to it:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48691488
Probably not your cup of tea music wise joe90 but a anarchist mate was at one of their concerts recently, and the place got flooded with police who shut them down when they started playing this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBG3Gdt5OGs&ab_channel=IC3PEAK
Been talking with mates in Russia and Putin is freaking out over popular music at the moment. Little Big, IC3PEAK and others are having concerts pulled even before they play. His control not as solid as it once was, especially with the youth.
Relatively quick admission and apology for a tragic error. Good.
From the Summer Newsroom: Rod Oram exposes Judith Collins (again).
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/20/865053/national-climate-crisis?fbclid=IwAR3pRZLNrjjKY3vBAxZf8cQwdjbcBbYWYQIp6nsoBwh5umRExSJhcqnMS6k
Sigh. Judith is quite capable of exposing herself without anyone else's help, and I bet lots of folk wish she would (mostly male, I suspect)… 😎
Dude, seriously?
What Milt said.
Ew.
Not best praxis.
https://loudwomen.org/2018/01/23/best-praxis-10-question-interview/
*Cough cough*
There's always one, isn't there? You're shameless, Pucky.