How a veteran politician tries to silence debate on The Standard
Over many years on this normally excellent and stimulating site, I have gotten myself embroiled in some brutal stoushes. I’ve been banned several times, once after being so foolish as to rile the formidable Queen of Thorns, other times after irritating either Te Reo Putake or the long-suffering proprietor Mr. Prent. I’ve been accused of all sorts of ridiculous things, most recently of supporting Donald Trump; this because I had had the bad form to criticise Hillary Clinton. I’ve been called a “supporter of rape culture” because I dismissed the ludicrous, fantastical and sinister Soviet Russia-style campaign to destroy Julian Assange. I’ve been labelled “anti-Semitic” for demonstrating that Sacha Baron Cohen and Jerry Seinfeld are racist, hateful, and politically extreme to an extent that makes Bernard Manning look like Stewart Lee.
All of this is water off a duck’s back in the end. Accusing someone of being anti-Semitic for protesting Israel’s crimes and critiquing Israel’s ruthless apologists (like Baron Cohen and Seinfeld) carries no intellectual or moral weight. Nobody—well, nobody with an IQ above room temperature—accepts there’s any substance to such name-calling. Except for the bitter and unforgiving Queen of Thorns, all of my other past accusers have either apologised, or at least stopped the silly accusations once they realised they’d got it wrong.
Yesterday, however, I was the subject of something viler and darker than anything else I have encountered here. The poster Wayne, who has identified himself as the former National Government minister Dr Wayne Mapp, decided he would indulge in a little National Party-style character assassination.
After enthusing about the positive benefits of “a drone strike, typically using a Hellfire missile with a 9 kg warhead” for the victims of that drone strike, Wayne then wrote THIS….
As for Morrissey, if he/she thinks that ISIS is apparently a force for good (or at least the moral equivalent of the US, Europe and NZ), well I guess that is his/her view. On his/her argument ISIS should be able to legitimately target the NZ Parliament, since we are part of the anti ISIS coalition.
Of course, I don’t think that, and Wayne knows I don’t. His absurd and dishonest antics don’t particularly bother me; once you’ve been accused of being a Trump supporter, after all, it’s hard to be bothered by anything—especially such a transparent and flimsy piece of nonsense as Dr Mapp has indulged himself in here.
What is interesting, however, is the insight that it gives into the way that an experienced politician operates. If you ask most political observers what they remember about Dr Wayne Mapp, most of us would probably say that, regardless of his politics, he was one of the nice guys. His casual and deliberate lying about me yesterday shows that would be an overly generous, even inaccurate, assessment.
Perhaps its an indication of just how dirty, and nasty, the Nats are going to be with this election, using you as a practice run, Morrissey.
That was my first thought, Morrissey, and then I remembered how the Nat councillors on Nth Shore Council tried out a number of speculative rumours on me soon after Helen Clark was elected as PM ….. so yes, that could well be one of their nasty little ploys.
I notice the Bank of America….. which bailed out and Assimilated Merill lynch when they were going bankrupt are in the news …. for reasons of greed in exploiting ‘investor-state dispute settlements, or ISDS’…
ISDS were some of the more nasty fishooks in the 3000 page long-line … known as the TPPA ….
Key will probably end up working for Bank of america as they are as sleazy as he is … and they did bail him out ….when his greed driven investment strategy in Merrill shares became worthless ….
Deutch bank are also mentioned in the story….. and I believe he’s fiddled around with them too … …
“WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables. One of those cables described how Blue Ridge Investments LLC, a Bank of America subsidiary, bought an almost $180 million ISDS award that an American gas company originally had won against Argentina. Blue Ridge, the cable said, was rumored to have paid roughly 30% of the award’s value.”
“‘Vulture fund’ Blue Ridge belongs to a new class of financial market players”
Rich people making poor people suffer …. Key will love it.
And then I was thinking of all the wars and conflict going on in the world …….. and how they tied into keys/naionals tax haven network ??
Like a dirty glove of course …. ” We found a large number of arms-producing companies with shell companies established in the Netherlands. Most of the production of these companies takes place in the major westerarms-producing countries; the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. The arms companies turned out to have zero or minimal personnel presence in the Netherlands. Their almost empty offices and sometimes only having a mailbox allows them to legally pay as little tax as possible.”
“Many of these companies have a record of corruption that goes beyond tax evasion”
“Tax evasion by arms companies is therefore doubly cynical”……….” their products too are paid for by taxes. The lion share of what arms companies produce is bought by governments. Moreover, much of their research and development is subsidized by governments or done in cooperation with publicly funded universities and/or research institutes. And prices paid by tax payers are inflated further because of high levels of corruption.”
Johhny made-off and the nats have committed $20 billion Nz ‘tax payers” money on this wasteful corrupt industry
And our farmers are paying for the economic weapons of sanctions …. which we are using to support these fascists
Key will probably end up working for Bank of america as they are as sleazy as he is … and they did bail him out ….when his greed driven investment strategy in Merrill shares became worthless ….
We got a preview during their disastrous and inept losing campaign in Mt Roskill—from the National candidate’s thuggish husband to the National Party louts in the front row hurling insults at the Labour candidate.
Still, the byelection had two positive outcomes: beside the election of the excellent Michael Wood, it led to the resignation, a day later, of John Key.
I expect that was a pretty painful spanking he gave you. Maybe he’d read this comment on the same thread, in which you declare the US and UK governments to be more comparable to fascists than the religious fascists they’re targeting with drone strikes.
To be fair, Wayne didn’t really go far enough with “or at least the moral equivalent of the US, Europe and NZ,” given that comment I just linked to. “Moral superiors” would be more accurate than “moral equivalent” under the circumstances.
I expect that was a pretty painful spanking he gave you.
Yes, it was like being savaged by a dead sheep.
….in which you declare the US and UK governments to be more comparable to fascists than the religious fascists they’re targeting with drone strikes.
The religious fascists you pretend to be so concerned about have been and are financially, militarily and diplomatically supported by the US and UK governments.
The rest of your inept casuistry is not worth a response.
You still haven’t explained the logic behind your claim that the US and UK governments are supporting Al Qaeda and Da’esh while also killing them with drone strikes. The drone strikes are self-evident, but evidence for the “support” part of your claim is non-existent. So, I know readers won’t have any problem seeing how your claim fails, but I’m interested to know how you imagine it works.
Thats pretty weird logic. Obviously the usa cant be helping the group hit by a drone strike cause they be dead but nothing stops them aiding others in other regions. If you are ascribing morals to Isis along the lines of not accepting guns from Cia cause they bombed some of the bros I suggest you check out some headchopping videos. Seymour Hirsch has detailed the rat line that moved arms from Libya to Syrian groups thar included Al Quaida even though AQ was the target of drone strikes in many regions. What has changed? https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
So, the logic is that tenuous string by which some group that western governments support at some point makes some kind of deal with Al Qaeda and Da’esh in some combat zone and that supposedly justifies the claim the governments are “supporting” Al Qaeda and Da’esh. Don’t see it myself.
However, Morrissey’s claim (“The religious fascists you pretend to be so concerned about have been and are financially, militarily and diplomatically supported by the US and UK governments”) is that the combatants I’m happy for the US government to kill with drone strikes are also being directly supported by those same governments. If what he meant is that those governments kill some religious fascists while supporting others, maybe he could have phrased the claim less stupidly. For my part, I’m OK with them killing whatever proportion of combatant religious fascists they feel comfortable with. More is better, but even superpowers have limits on their capability.
You may enjoy indiscriminate bloodletting simply on the say so of some random accuser with no right of reply but Im wondering if even in your world you would draw the line at the uk and usa using religious fascists to kill non religious fascists. Because this is what they have done in Syria and are doing in Yemen and will be pushing to do in Iran. The articles above and below show this to be the case
“supercilious affectations……” – Morrissey ? What a riot you are Tinfoilhat ! That’s Dr Mapp down to his socks. Shows of pompous noblesse oblige and supercilious affectations aplenty are simply not in Morrissey’s toolbox.
Remember being at a National Party election meeting in Birkenhead years ago. Wayne somehow got it into the discourse with the gushing chairperson that his wife was at a farewell dinner for some law chap………portentously naming the man, adding “QC” to round off this quite unnecessary identification. Remember thinking at the time “You’re just wanking mate…….showing off how you’re so elevated, so fine.” In a word, ‘Snob’.
As for “honest” he certainly wasn’t that night. It was in the days of Kiwi/Iwi. His facile misrepresentation of Affirmative Action (strenthened in the moment by obviously advised failure to mention the US Supreme Court), was offered to a bunch of grey-cardigan-clad with negligible if any appreciation of this seminal concept. Easy targets for the One-Law-For-All lie.
My……..how challenge to their champion’s glib dishonesty roused them ! Aggression and threats of disorder were quickly stemmed however when , to my momentary confusion, out-of-the-blue my mate falsely remarked that I was a fairly handy middleweight in my day…….the winner of some title in 19 hundred and something. Hilarious it was !
my mate falsely remarked that I was a fairly handy middleweight in my day…….the winner of some title in 19 hundred and something.
What a pity you didn’t end up coming to blows, my friend! I’d be prepared to wager Bill Clinton’s weekly whoring budget that it would have looked something like the following, with you, North, of course being the one in blue,…
With that degree of vainglorious shirt-ripping, you’d do better in a U2 video, on a cliff, crying into the wind, singing ‘the streets having no name’, and the moon doing something else, and then Michael Bolton would come in for a blowsy clarinet bridge, and then a great black Chicago choir would rise up behind you clapping in time as the sun sets in their eyes.
Morrissey makes good points often, gets passionate about a lot, and does not belong to the large group of NZs labelled the ‘Passionless People’. Showing skill at jibes about his sincere and seemingly accurate argument is a cheap shot.
He just lied about a bunch of stuff that happens on TS, as far as I can tell to make himself look good. Whatever the value of his political arguments, that’s not a good look.
Grain of truth? Probably but I can’t be arsed wading through the crap and trying to parse it all so that I can see whether what he claims Mapp was doing is true. My own view is that Mapp is a useful contributor on TS because he doesn’t troll (rare in our RW regulars) and he brings in perspectives from having been an MP, which means we have to up our game when talking about parliament and subjects related to that. Of course, I disagree with his politics and assume that he will frame things to suit his argument, and yes I’m sure he dissembles, but I’m not sure that I would take Morrissey’s assessment of him at face value without going to looking it up. In other words, pot calling the kettle black (and so ably demonstrated in his on comment).
“And I have work to do today re Schumacher, will you be round during day?”
Yes. If you want it to go up tomorrow morning I need the draft copy this morning. I’ll probably need to check some things with you about it too. cheers.
Morrissey
When you start saying ‘my friend’ you are being your most patronising and precocious.
From reading weka’s thoughtful summation of you and your diatribe, I think that the grain of truth that you could pull out of the comments on this post, is to make your more concise and therefore more polished. Then they would be more effective for those who haven’t time to follow a stream of consciousness approach. That is my prescription, if you choose to accept it.
When you start saying ‘my friend’ you are being your most patronising
No, I wasn’t patronising Ad, whose intellect I do respect. I genuinely appreciated his clever little takedown, even though I was the victim.
… and precocious.
Precocious? Moi?
Could you explain how my careful dissection of Mr Mapp’s enthusiastic support for drone bombing, and his casual lie that I support ISIS, is a “diatribe”.
After that you might like to explain exactly how weka’s confused and haphazard comments constitute a “thoughtful summation.”
Everybody knows Waynes n sa racist warmongering dishonest creep of a man …..who moonlights as a sick kind of king dick pic here …
I’d ask wayne if he thinks nat mp mark mitchell was involved in torture of prisoners in iraq ….. when all that torture and prisoner abuse was growing isis ….. they used dogs a lot on prisoner …..
Except for the bitter and unforgiving Queen of Thorns, all of my other past accusers have either apologised, or at least stopped the silly accusations once they realised they’d got it wrong.
Pretty sure that if we were to be talking about Assange again that I would still call you a supporter of rape culture. I’m also pretty sure you know this, which means you’re outright lying. I’ll add sexist to that as well given how you just framed QoT’s response to you (and that’s without even looking it up). And patronising git. And drama queen. Egg (to steal a great cultural insult from Moana Maniopoto).
But I did get to read Ad and Tinfoilhat’s comments, which made up for having to read yours. Saturday mornings on TS.
“Yesterday, however, I was the subject of something viler and darker than anything else I have encountered here.”
Did he call you a retard? Then I agree. That’s quite vile.
Using people with learning disabilities as insult material is beneath contempt. Wouldn’t you agree?
Certainly puts your crocodile tears and blame game for effect antics in to context.
In 2009 – New Zealand was ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ – according to the Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’.
That was the very same year of the, in my considered opinion, ‘corrupt corporate coup’.
When the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 was railroaded through Parliament, which set up the framework for this FORCED Auckland ‘$upercity for the 1%’.
Goes to prove what a complete and utter meaningless CROCK is the Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’?
Penny, these are people who go about researching this stuff as profession. I.e. they get paid for it. So their considered opinion is a lot more weighty and valuable than yours.
No one will vote for a candidate that can’t work out the difference between relative frequency of occurrences, which New Zealands position in the index is, and absolute occurrence, which you may be right about. but probably aren’t, in my considered opinion.
Hanging your hat on your own opinion about a survey released in 2009, about 8 years ago (or almost three electoral cycles) is quite frankly ridiculous.
We are in post truth tuppence shrewsbury – so I think many surveys are actually either paid propaganda or the criteria they use it out of date in the 21 century.
I certainly don’t believe everything I believe in a survey!
We Must Understand Syria as a Popular Struggle Despite Its Complications……
The Panama Papers have revealed what all Syrians fighting for freedom and the coherent sector of the Left already knew: the Assad regime is not only dictatorial, bloody and extremely repressive, it is also deeply corrupt and a great defender of neoliberalism. That is the first and most established face of imperialist policies in the country, not the people in arms! Unfortunately, there is still a sector of the “Left” that persists in ignoring reality.
By Florence Oppen.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I wonder, if the New Zealand people had protested and fought against the neo-liberal looting of the public purse like the Syrian people have. Would the neo-liberals have turned to unbelievable levels of violence to cement the imposition of their rule?
I doubt it.
I think that in the face of such protests, the New Zealand neo-liberals would have backed down.
But not so in Syria.
In New Zealand the extremes between rich and poor are not as extreme as they are in Syria, where the average wage was $2,600 a year. (probably even less now)
Because of this huge disparity, the neo-liberal revolution was felt much harder by the Syrian people, and could only be forced through with massive repression by the Assad regime.
And repression and violence, is something that the Assad regime is expert in, and has a long history of.
So much so, that before the revolution, Syria was the Number 1 repository/customer for the CIA’s flights of Extraordinary Rendition. The scheme in which the CIA outsourced torture to repressive regimes around the world. To evade the US constitutional ban on “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”.
I wonder:
Now that Trump has said that he will bring back torture, (forbidden in their constitution), and that he will do it it legally. Will the CIA’s flights to Syria for the purposes of torturing their suspects, be restarted?
In light of the fact that Trump has also said that he will be joining with Putin alongside the neo-liberal Assad regime in fighting the genocidal war of repression, currently being waged against the Syrian people. That the outsourceing the CIA’s wetwork to Syrian torture chambers would be a logical further step.
And globally, neo-liberalism goes to the next logical level, that most neo-liberals would probaly have shied away from.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I am sorry that I didn’t give right timing for listening to Matt Nippert investigative reporter with NZ Herald on his work on Peter Thiel. I thought 9 am but he was on Radionz with Kim Hill after the news at 8am. Then there was another journalist who has received an award for work supporting other journalists in risky locations.
Matt Nippert: Uncovering a billionaire’s bolthole
Matt Nippert
Matt Nippert Photo: supplied
A Fulbright scholar with a masters from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, Matt Nippert has spent the past decade in newsbreaking roles at the New Zealand Listener, National Business Review, Herald on Sunday and the Sunday Star-Times before joining the Herald in 2014. His work – latterly focused on tax avoidance and corporate malfeasance – has won numerous awards and he is the reigning Canon reporter of the year. This week he talks to Kim about discovering that US billionaire Peter Thiel gained citizenship and profited from a publicly-funded venture fund.
8:30 Emma Beals: A culture of safety in warzones
Emma Beals
Emma Beals Photo: supplied
Emma Beals is a New Zealand journalist who has just been awarded a James Foley Freedom award for her work. Emma is currently working on an investigation into the UN’s operation in Syria for the Guardian. Her freelance articles about the Syrian civil war, which she has covered since 2012, have also appeared in The Daily Beast, USA Today, Raconteur, Al Jazeera English and Vice. She has worked on documentaries for BBC Panorama, AJ+, Vice, ABC and others. Emma was a major force in the creation of the Frontline Freelance Register, which has pressed employers to adopt standards that would increase security for their freelance employees. Thanks largely to Emma, the standards have become ‘A Culture of Safety Alliance’-a movement of 80 organizations in 20 countries to increase safety.
If you feel weak on economic arguments, and not sure how to frame them, especially around austerity. Then this Scot, who is a bit rough around the edges explains it in very clear terms. Please note, I think successive NZ governments have been running with this economics, it’s just the last 8 years under national we have seen it put in overdrive. A video of 12 minutes give or take in length. From Jimmy Dore, so expect some bad language.
Economist Who Predicted Trump & Brexit Explains How System Screws You
that was good, thanks. I think some of this is still based on economic concepts that many people won’t understand but he was good to listen to in general.
Immigration Dept has dropped of preferred list of immigrants, those offering a welcome to senior maritime personnel. Locals are happy that they can now get better training and work opportunities for thousands of potential sea-persons than in a decade. And get an apprentice type sheme going again.
Thinking about Trump. Isn’t he the embodiment of all the things that are negative about America. See him and you see it all walking and talking.
It is a folk tale come to life. We are the little child with naive eyes not impressed by conflicting and conflating stories about what we should see and notice, and there in front of us is the USA with no clothes on. Ugh.
He’s the true face of the one per cent. He is Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, and all the rest of those parasites and enemies of the public good, rolled into one pudgy, repellent and orange-hued personality.
We shouldn’t feel too superior, however. We have several homegrown versions of this horrible phenomenon….
Critics of domestic violence leave, such as the Australian Industry Group, have also complained that under the proposal of 10 days leave put forward by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, employers would also be paying the wages of perpetrators while they were taking leave to sort out legal and other related issues.
At METL, this is part of the solution. Earle says that while his organisation has a zero-tolerance policy for violence at work, it would pay out the leave to perpetrators who were using it to get help to stop the violence.
“If it is an issue that men are seeking help for, then they need to be supported so they can help themselves, help their families and show other men that it is possible to turn that around.”
Now this sounds like a good idea to help deal with our domestic violence issues.
Today’s cornucopia of Trump-era Neonazi lunacy, the explicitly anti-democratic ‘Neoreactionary’ or ‘NRx’ movement. It’s a major ideological influence on Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel has been associated with it.
Says one who’s having peculiar wet dreams,
Apparently there’s a big underground movement of right-wing bodybuilders — thousands. Their plan is to surface spectacularly this April, in a choreographed flash demo on the Mall. They’ll be totally nude, but wearing MAGA hats. Goal is to intimidate Congress with pure masculine show of youth, energy. Trump is said to know, will coordinate with powerful EOs…
There’s more of the usual stuff you expect from socially inept manbabies – declaring themselves to be ubermenschen with IQs of 160, ‘reluctantly’ accepting their ‘historic’ role etc. These are the ones who instead of going on high school shooting sprees get into politics instead.
There are and always have been narcissistic idiots with chronic testosterone poisoning, but the recent and rapid shift of the deeply misogynistic and authoritarian alt-right into the cultural spotlight with Bannon’s rise to the effective control of the presidency is a new and substantial threat.
Another one of those crude historical pseudotheories on nations’ (read races’) intrinsic qualities (blood and soil) and the inevitability, even necessity of a racially ‘cleansing’ war.
Facebook to add punch button for responding to posts by Nazi’s!
In the interests of balance, the site has told alt-right users, their stunning meltdowns when presented with evidence which contradicts their Breitbart-bubble generated opinions, will also be accommodated.
“We’re adding a snowflake-shaped button just for you,”
U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a “gift” to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a “spy” and a “traitor” who deserves to be executed.
That’s according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations and who says a Snowden handover is one of various ploys to “curry favor” with Trump. A second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence about the Russian conversations and notes it has been gathered since the inauguration.
Pardoning Snowden, or more appropriately, awarding him the Congressional Medal of Honor, was just another of the things Hopey Changey could have and should have done but didn’t. Too busy, I guess….
Christ on a bike, are news outlets ever going to learn?
It’s like being back at primary school and accumulating knowledge of the world through playground gossip.
An anonymous person who claims to have access to highly sensitive intelligence reports waffles shite and gets backing from another anonymous person. Sure. I’m taking that hook, line and sinker.
——
Snowden’s ‘leave to remain’ has been extended for three years and he can apply for citizenship next year.
I think that if you read the Guardian link from January 18th you’ll see that nbc is just recycling speculative bullshit that was put out there by (according to The Guardian on the 18th) former acting CIA director Michael Morell.
It’s tedious.
As for what Putin may or may not do with regards whatever or whoever in whatever situation – I’m not psychic.
Is it really too much to be asking that news be informative rather than scraping along in the sludge of bullshit gossip?
Finally: irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they're next. https://t.co/YONqZ1gYqm— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 10, 2017
In November, Snowden said he believed there was a chance Putin might hand him over to Trump as part of a deal. “It’s possible. It would be crazy to dismiss the idea of this guy who presents himself as a big deal maker [Trump] as trying to make a deal,” he said.
Andre, it doesn’t matter if they corroborate the reports or not. As we’ve seen, Trump can get away with anything. Even if there was a photo of him KILLING one of those women, his “base” of hapless imbeciles would still support him.
They say they can verify that some electronic interchanges happened between foreigners at the times alleged in the so-called dossier.
Okay.
So how many telephone calls or such like between foreigners are detailed or alleged to have taken place in that ‘dossier’?
I’m picking the only communications that can be being referred to are those that Christopher Steele (UK citizen) had with other foreign sources A through K or whatever.
Like I say above – seems too many news outlets are happy to be nothing better than breathless school ground gossip mongers trying to make out that their banal shite is somehow important. Do CNN (and others) not give a toss about how they’re perceived or how they will become to be perceived?
As you know my comment was in response to your statement;
“You will therefore be supportive of any drone strike carried out against US domiciled terrorists, Cheney, Rice, Obama, Trump by forces government or non governmental from say Syria, or Iran, or Lebanon…”
You have been quite clear that you consider that the drone strikes by the US are terrorist attacks. The above comment seemed to indicate that you thought ISIS etc could legitimately carry out their own drone attacks in response. I simply drew a logical extension about the NZ Parliament since NZ is part of the anti ISIS coalition.
Do I actually think that you believe that about the NZ parliament? No I don”t.
It was simply a response to your view that seems to place ISIS and the US, UK (and given NZ role in the ISIS campaign, NZ as well) on the same moral equivalence.
My comment was to illustrate my point about the ultimate outcome of moral equivalence.
It was not actually intended to be personal, but rather to illustrate a point
Extrajudicial executions with civilian “collateral damage” are morally wrong no matter who does it.
That Wayne thinks that they are acceptable, says a great deal about his lack of moral compass.
Not only that, but drone strikes and bombing in general are counterproductive, because it simply inspires more revenge on the perpetrators, sorry – terrorism”.
Any one going to norightturn and searching ‘Mapp’ ….
will see an illustration of crap ….
Wayne was the closest to a self proclaimed wannabe ‘propeganda minister’ …we have had in modern NZ times ….
“National has appointed Wayne Mapp its spokesman for “Political Correctness Eradication”.” ………….. This was during a very dishonest and very racist National PR offensive from honest don brash and key versus Helen …… with her strange Iwi/kiwi … where both racists and Maori were being sold out by her…. (with Maori being correct)
“for a final kick of the dead horse (pending further stupidity from Mapp, that is), in this morning’s Herald, Brian Rudman calls Wayne Mapp’s position as chief PC eradicator a humiliation and a “nonsense role”, and wonders whether Mapp will ever be able to return to Auckland University without sniggers following him down the corridors. ”
Every movement that has rejected a scientific consensus, whether it be on evolution, climate change or the link between smoking and cancer, exhibits the same five characteristics of science denial (concisely summarized by the acronym FLICC). These are fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking and conspiracy theories. When someone wants to cast doubt on a scientific finding, FLICC is an integral part of the misinformation toolbox.
And we see all of those from the RWNJs as they try to distract from the reality that their policies bring about.
Pertinent in relation to Andre’s post at 17, on the role of experts and statistics in public discourse.
Essentially, gross statistical presentation does not match local conditions, which inevitably vary from the national mean, and of course statistics-gathering has political and cultural biases – GDP does not mention unpaid work usually done by women for example. All of this leads to resentment and distrust.
However, Big Data is on the rise and is generated not by active questioning and surveys, but by harvesting the data we all leave in our everyday activities. That is usually privatised.
The author concludes by warning that that we are leaving a period when data was publicly accessible and useable to an age when it is privatised. Experts and technocrats won’t disappear under a hail of rotten tomatoes, they will simply go behind closed doors.
Bugger. Good for us though 🙂 and I’m sure Russell will do well. (now I’ve got some mad game of Labour Party musical chairs going on in my head, but am biting my tongue).
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Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
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Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
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Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
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Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
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Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
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When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
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How a veteran politician tries to silence debate on The Standard
Over many years on this normally excellent and stimulating site, I have gotten myself embroiled in some brutal stoushes. I’ve been banned several times, once after being so foolish as to rile the formidable Queen of Thorns, other times after irritating either Te Reo Putake or the long-suffering proprietor Mr. Prent. I’ve been accused of all sorts of ridiculous things, most recently of supporting Donald Trump; this because I had had the bad form to criticise Hillary Clinton. I’ve been called a “supporter of rape culture” because I dismissed the ludicrous, fantastical and sinister Soviet Russia-style campaign to destroy Julian Assange. I’ve been labelled “anti-Semitic” for demonstrating that Sacha Baron Cohen and Jerry Seinfeld are racist, hateful, and politically extreme to an extent that makes Bernard Manning look like Stewart Lee.
All of this is water off a duck’s back in the end. Accusing someone of being anti-Semitic for protesting Israel’s crimes and critiquing Israel’s ruthless apologists (like Baron Cohen and Seinfeld) carries no intellectual or moral weight. Nobody—well, nobody with an IQ above room temperature—accepts there’s any substance to such name-calling. Except for the bitter and unforgiving Queen of Thorns, all of my other past accusers have either apologised, or at least stopped the silly accusations once they realised they’d got it wrong.
Yesterday, however, I was the subject of something viler and darker than anything else I have encountered here. The poster Wayne, who has identified himself as the former National Government minister Dr Wayne Mapp, decided he would indulge in a little National Party-style character assassination.
After enthusing about the positive benefits of “a drone strike, typically using a Hellfire missile with a 9 kg warhead” for the victims of that drone strike, Wayne then wrote THIS….
https://thestandard.org.nz/sad/#comment-1298031
Of course, I don’t think that, and Wayne knows I don’t. His absurd and dishonest antics don’t particularly bother me; once you’ve been accused of being a Trump supporter, after all, it’s hard to be bothered by anything—especially such a transparent and flimsy piece of nonsense as Dr Mapp has indulged himself in here.
What is interesting, however, is the insight that it gives into the way that an experienced politician operates. If you ask most political observers what they remember about Dr Wayne Mapp, most of us would probably say that, regardless of his politics, he was one of the nice guys. His casual and deliberate lying about me yesterday shows that would be an overly generous, even inaccurate, assessment.
Perhaps its an indication of just how dirty, and nasty, the Nats are going to be with this election, using you as a practice run, Morrissey.
That was my first thought, Morrissey, and then I remembered how the Nat councillors on Nth Shore Council tried out a number of speculative rumours on me soon after Helen Clark was elected as PM ….. so yes, that could well be one of their nasty little ploys.
wayne never talks to me … as i advertise his dishonest racist warmongering past actions with links to norightturn ….. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=mapp
…. and post up things he does not want to talk about …..
I notice the Bank of America….. which bailed out and Assimilated Merill lynch when they were going bankrupt are in the news …. for reasons of greed in exploiting ‘investor-state dispute settlements, or ISDS’…
ISDS were some of the more nasty fishooks in the 3000 page long-line … known as the TPPA ….
Key will probably end up working for Bank of america as they are as sleazy as he is … and they did bail him out ….when his greed driven investment strategy in Merrill shares became worthless ….
Deutch bank are also mentioned in the story….. and I believe he’s fiddled around with them too … …
https://jagadees.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/how-big-banks-bled-a-tiny-island-nation/
“WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables. One of those cables described how Blue Ridge Investments LLC, a Bank of America subsidiary, bought an almost $180 million ISDS award that an American gas company originally had won against Argentina. Blue Ridge, the cable said, was rumored to have paid roughly 30% of the award’s value.”
“‘Vulture fund’ Blue Ridge belongs to a new class of financial market players”
Rich people making poor people suffer …. Key will love it.
And then I was thinking of all the wars and conflict going on in the world …….. and how they tied into keys/naionals tax haven network ??
Like a dirty glove of course …. ” We found a large number of arms-producing companies with shell companies established in the Netherlands. Most of the production of these companies takes place in the major westerarms-producing countries; the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. The arms companies turned out to have zero or minimal personnel presence in the Netherlands. Their almost empty offices and sometimes only having a mailbox allows them to legally pay as little tax as possible.”
“Many of these companies have a record of corruption that goes beyond tax evasion”
“Tax evasion by arms companies is therefore doubly cynical”……….” their products too are paid for by taxes. The lion share of what arms companies produce is bought by governments. Moreover, much of their research and development is subsidized by governments or done in cooperation with publicly funded universities and/or research institutes. And prices paid by tax payers are inflated further because of high levels of corruption.”
Johhny made-off and the nats have committed $20 billion Nz ‘tax payers” money on this wasteful corrupt industry
And our farmers are paying for the economic weapons of sanctions …. which we are using to support these fascists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8eypWwRaKc
My grandfather would be spinning in his grave ….. he lost mates and health fighting Nazi fascists in WWII
He had real guts …. unlike the soft corrupt nats ….like the mapps and keys of this world
I believe he owns shares in BoA.
That’s capitalism for you.
We got a preview during their disastrous and inept losing campaign in Mt Roskill—from the National candidate’s thuggish husband to the National Party louts in the front row hurling insults at the Labour candidate.
Still, the byelection had two positive outcomes: beside the election of the excellent Michael Wood, it led to the resignation, a day later, of John Key.
There’s a future NZ prime minister inside the young Michael Wood.
I don’t think NZ has a future under this current government. We cannot wait that long for a prime minister. We just need a change, for now.
I expect that was a pretty painful spanking he gave you. Maybe he’d read this comment on the same thread, in which you declare the US and UK governments to be more comparable to fascists than the religious fascists they’re targeting with drone strikes.
To be fair, Wayne didn’t really go far enough with “or at least the moral equivalent of the US, Europe and NZ,” given that comment I just linked to. “Moral superiors” would be more accurate than “moral equivalent” under the circumstances.
I expect that was a pretty painful spanking he gave you.
Yes, it was like being savaged by a dead sheep.
….in which you declare the US and UK governments to be more comparable to fascists than the religious fascists they’re targeting with drone strikes.
The religious fascists you pretend to be so concerned about have been and are financially, militarily and diplomatically supported by the US and UK governments.
The rest of your inept casuistry is not worth a response.
You still haven’t explained the logic behind your claim that the US and UK governments are supporting Al Qaeda and Da’esh while also killing them with drone strikes. The drone strikes are self-evident, but evidence for the “support” part of your claim is non-existent. So, I know readers won’t have any problem seeing how your claim fails, but I’m interested to know how you imagine it works.
Thats pretty weird logic. Obviously the usa cant be helping the group hit by a drone strike cause they be dead but nothing stops them aiding others in other regions. If you are ascribing morals to Isis along the lines of not accepting guns from Cia cause they bombed some of the bros I suggest you check out some headchopping videos. Seymour Hirsch has detailed the rat line that moved arms from Libya to Syrian groups thar included Al Quaida even though AQ was the target of drone strikes in many regions. What has changed?
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
So, the logic is that tenuous string by which some group that western governments support at some point makes some kind of deal with Al Qaeda and Da’esh in some combat zone and that supposedly justifies the claim the governments are “supporting” Al Qaeda and Da’esh. Don’t see it myself.
However, Morrissey’s claim (“The religious fascists you pretend to be so concerned about have been and are financially, militarily and diplomatically supported by the US and UK governments”) is that the combatants I’m happy for the US government to kill with drone strikes are also being directly supported by those same governments. If what he meant is that those governments kill some religious fascists while supporting others, maybe he could have phrased the claim less stupidly. For my part, I’m OK with them killing whatever proportion of combatant religious fascists they feel comfortable with. More is better, but even superpowers have limits on their capability.
You may enjoy indiscriminate bloodletting simply on the say so of some random accuser with no right of reply but Im wondering if even in your world you would draw the line at the uk and usa using religious fascists to kill non religious fascists. Because this is what they have done in Syria and are doing in Yemen and will be pushing to do in Iran. The articles above and below show this to be the case
That should be non (religious fascists)
Also check out this thorough outline with references from Seamus Milne at the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq
Whilst I come from the opposite end of the political spectrum from dr mapp, I’d happily have him as a guest speaker for my students.
At least he is honest and open in his opinions and avoids hiding behind supercilious affectations such as those displayed by Mr Breen all to often.
… avoids hiding behind supercilious affectations such as those displayed by Mr Breen all to [sic] often.
Should read: “…all TOO often.”
https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder230/57161230.jpg
“supercilious affectations……” – Morrissey ? What a riot you are Tinfoilhat ! That’s Dr Mapp down to his socks. Shows of pompous noblesse oblige and supercilious affectations aplenty are simply not in Morrissey’s toolbox.
Remember being at a National Party election meeting in Birkenhead years ago. Wayne somehow got it into the discourse with the gushing chairperson that his wife was at a farewell dinner for some law chap………portentously naming the man, adding “QC” to round off this quite unnecessary identification. Remember thinking at the time “You’re just wanking mate…….showing off how you’re so elevated, so fine.” In a word, ‘Snob’.
As for “honest” he certainly wasn’t that night. It was in the days of Kiwi/Iwi. His facile misrepresentation of Affirmative Action (strenthened in the moment by obviously advised failure to mention the US Supreme Court), was offered to a bunch of grey-cardigan-clad with negligible if any appreciation of this seminal concept. Easy targets for the One-Law-For-All lie.
My……..how challenge to their champion’s glib dishonesty roused them ! Aggression and threats of disorder were quickly stemmed however when , to my momentary confusion, out-of-the-blue my mate falsely remarked that I was a fairly handy middleweight in my day…….the winner of some title in 19 hundred and something. Hilarious it was !
my mate falsely remarked that I was a fairly handy middleweight in my day…….the winner of some title in 19 hundred and something.
What a pity you didn’t end up coming to blows, my friend! I’d be prepared to wager Bill Clinton’s weekly whoring budget that it would have looked something like the following, with you, North, of course being the one in blue,…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUdYgBhF9-w
With that degree of vainglorious shirt-ripping, you’d do better in a U2 video, on a cliff, crying into the wind, singing ‘the streets having no name’, and the moon doing something else, and then Michael Bolton would come in for a blowsy clarinet bridge, and then a great black Chicago choir would rise up behind you clapping in time as the sun sets in their eyes.
He would do anything for love but he wont do that
Morrissey makes good points often, gets passionate about a lot, and does not belong to the large group of NZs labelled the ‘Passionless People’. Showing skill at jibes about his sincere and seemingly accurate argument is a cheap shot.
He just lied about a bunch of stuff that happens on TS, as far as I can tell to make himself look good. Whatever the value of his political arguments, that’s not a good look.
Ok Weka I have seen his confabulations before but was there a grain of truth in there?
And I have work to do today re Schumacher, will you be round during day?
Grain of truth? Probably but I can’t be arsed wading through the crap and trying to parse it all so that I can see whether what he claims Mapp was doing is true. My own view is that Mapp is a useful contributor on TS because he doesn’t troll (rare in our RW regulars) and he brings in perspectives from having been an MP, which means we have to up our game when talking about parliament and subjects related to that. Of course, I disagree with his politics and assume that he will frame things to suit his argument, and yes I’m sure he dissembles, but I’m not sure that I would take Morrissey’s assessment of him at face value without going to looking it up. In other words, pot calling the kettle black (and so ably demonstrated in his on comment).
“And I have work to do today re Schumacher, will you be round during day?”
Yes. If you want it to go up tomorrow morning I need the draft copy this morning. I’ll probably need to check some things with you about it too. cheers.
you can post it in yesterday’s Daily Review, I’ll keep an eye out, thanks.
Brilliant Ad! That’s a Joycean masterpiece. You’ve captured my essence there, my friend.
Morrissey
When you start saying ‘my friend’ you are being your most patronising and precocious.
From reading weka’s thoughtful summation of you and your diatribe, I think that the grain of truth that you could pull out of the comments on this post, is to make your more concise and therefore more polished. Then they would be more effective for those who haven’t time to follow a stream of consciousness approach. That is my prescription, if you choose to accept it.
When you start saying ‘my friend’ you are being your most patronising
No, I wasn’t patronising Ad, whose intellect I do respect. I genuinely appreciated his clever little takedown, even though I was the victim.
… and precocious.
Precocious? Moi?
Could you explain how my careful dissection of Mr Mapp’s enthusiastic support for drone bombing, and his casual lie that I support ISIS, is a “diatribe”.
After that you might like to explain exactly how weka’s confused and haphazard comments constitute a “thoughtful summation.”
Thanks in advance.
Sorry Morrissey after your self-critique I can’t bear to handle the perfectly shaped intellect I see before me.
See how Morrissey’s so good for us Ad ? Lifts you and all of us to such colourful, creative heights. Go Morrissey !
Everybody knows Waynes n sa racist warmongering dishonest creep of a man …..who moonlights as a sick kind of king dick pic here …
I’d ask wayne if he thinks nat mp mark mitchell was involved in torture of prisoners in iraq ….. when all that torture and prisoner abuse was growing isis ….. they used dogs a lot on prisoner …..
and raped boys in front of mothers ….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/mar/06/james-steele-america-iraq-video
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
Waynes like a female version of judith collins ….. bad.
Except for the bitter and unforgiving Queen of Thorns, all of my other past accusers have either apologised, or at least stopped the silly accusations once they realised they’d got it wrong.
Pretty sure that if we were to be talking about Assange again that I would still call you a supporter of rape culture. I’m also pretty sure you know this, which means you’re outright lying. I’ll add sexist to that as well given how you just framed QoT’s response to you (and that’s without even looking it up). And patronising git. And drama queen. Egg (to steal a great cultural insult from Moana Maniopoto).
But I did get to read Ad and Tinfoilhat’s comments, which made up for having to read yours. Saturday mornings on TS.
“Yesterday, however, I was the subject of something viler and darker than anything else I have encountered here.”
Did he call you a retard? Then I agree. That’s quite vile.
Using people with learning disabilities as insult material is beneath contempt. Wouldn’t you agree?
Certainly puts your crocodile tears and blame game for effect antics in to context.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02022017/#comment-1294970
Idiot.
[how about we don’t have a flame war today (looking at both of you) – weka]
Fair enough weka. I withdraw, and apologize to Mr Swift.
Thanks Morrissey!
I don’t accept the apology though I do acknowledge one was made.
You’ll just carry on blubbing then. Fine with me.
[take the rest of the weekend off Morrissey – weka]
thanks for that link, hadn’t seen that, and I tend to agree. People are using ‘moron’ as a pejorative a bit too.
It’s a shame, but not really surprising.
Anyway, no flame war from me. I was just giving some context to the op’s pretend whining.
All good.
[deleted]
[permanent ban for blatant misogyny against Poto Williams, advocating violence against women, and trying to wind up the community. – weka]
In 2009 – New Zealand was ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ – according to the Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’.
http://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/cpi_2009
That was the very same year of the, in my considered opinion, ‘corrupt corporate coup’.
When the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 was railroaded through Parliament, which set up the framework for this FORCED Auckland ‘$upercity for the 1%’.
Goes to prove what a complete and utter meaningless CROCK is the Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’?
Penny Bright
Proven ‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
Penny, these are people who go about researching this stuff as profession. I.e. they get paid for it. So their considered opinion is a lot more weighty and valuable than yours.
No one will vote for a candidate that can’t work out the difference between relative frequency of occurrences, which New Zealands position in the index is, and absolute occurrence, which you may be right about. but probably aren’t, in my considered opinion.
Hanging your hat on your own opinion about a survey released in 2009, about 8 years ago (or almost three electoral cycles) is quite frankly ridiculous.
We are in post truth tuppence shrewsbury – so I think many surveys are actually either paid propaganda or the criteria they use it out of date in the 21 century.
I certainly don’t believe everything I believe in a survey!
Fascist neo-liberalism
http://litci.org/en/rami-makhlouf-a-corruption-poster-boy/
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I wonder, if the New Zealand people had protested and fought against the neo-liberal looting of the public purse like the Syrian people have. Would the neo-liberals have turned to unbelievable levels of violence to cement the imposition of their rule?
I doubt it.
I think that in the face of such protests, the New Zealand neo-liberals would have backed down.
But not so in Syria.
In New Zealand the extremes between rich and poor are not as extreme as they are in Syria, where the average wage was $2,600 a year. (probably even less now)
Because of this huge disparity, the neo-liberal revolution was felt much harder by the Syrian people, and could only be forced through with massive repression by the Assad regime.
And repression and violence, is something that the Assad regime is expert in, and has a long history of.
So much so, that before the revolution, Syria was the Number 1 repository/customer for the CIA’s flights of Extraordinary Rendition. The scheme in which the CIA outsourced torture to repressive regimes around the world. To evade the US constitutional ban on “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”.
I wonder:
Now that Trump has said that he will bring back torture, (forbidden in their constitution), and that he will do it it legally. Will the CIA’s flights to Syria for the purposes of torturing their suspects, be restarted?
In light of the fact that Trump has also said that he will be joining with Putin alongside the neo-liberal Assad regime in fighting the genocidal war of repression, currently being waged against the Syrian people. That the outsourceing the CIA’s wetwork to Syrian torture chambers would be a logical further step.
And globally, neo-liberalism goes to the next logical level, that most neo-liberals would probaly have shied away from.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I am sorry that I didn’t give right timing for listening to Matt Nippert investigative reporter with NZ Herald on his work on Peter Thiel. I thought 9 am but he was on Radionz with Kim Hill after the news at 8am. Then there was another journalist who has received an award for work supporting other journalists in risky locations.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201832835
Matt Nippert
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201832836
Emma Beals
Matt Nippert: Uncovering a billionaire’s bolthole
Matt Nippert
Matt Nippert Photo: supplied
A Fulbright scholar with a masters from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, Matt Nippert has spent the past decade in newsbreaking roles at the New Zealand Listener, National Business Review, Herald on Sunday and the Sunday Star-Times before joining the Herald in 2014. His work – latterly focused on tax avoidance and corporate malfeasance – has won numerous awards and he is the reigning Canon reporter of the year. This week he talks to Kim about discovering that US billionaire Peter Thiel gained citizenship and profited from a publicly-funded venture fund.
8:30 Emma Beals: A culture of safety in warzones
Emma Beals
Emma Beals Photo: supplied
Emma Beals is a New Zealand journalist who has just been awarded a James Foley Freedom award for her work. Emma is currently working on an investigation into the UN’s operation in Syria for the Guardian. Her freelance articles about the Syrian civil war, which she has covered since 2012, have also appeared in The Daily Beast, USA Today, Raconteur, Al Jazeera English and Vice. She has worked on documentaries for BBC Panorama, AJ+, Vice, ABC and others. Emma was a major force in the creation of the Frontline Freelance Register, which has pressed employers to adopt standards that would increase security for their freelance employees. Thanks largely to Emma, the standards have become ‘A Culture of Safety Alliance’-a movement of 80 organizations in 20 countries to increase safety.
Thanks, grey. I will listen to them when I have time. It’s great we still have a few investigative journalists.
If you feel weak on economic arguments, and not sure how to frame them, especially around austerity. Then this Scot, who is a bit rough around the edges explains it in very clear terms. Please note, I think successive NZ governments have been running with this economics, it’s just the last 8 years under national we have seen it put in overdrive. A video of 12 minutes give or take in length. From Jimmy Dore, so expect some bad language.
Economist Who Predicted Trump & Brexit Explains How System Screws You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmmGTyXDcT8
that was good, thanks. I think some of this is still based on economic concepts that many people won’t understand but he was good to listen to in general.
Mark Blyth is great. His example about lowering taxes on the rich and increasing student fees really illustrates a major cause of inequality.
Immigration Dept has dropped of preferred list of immigrants, those offering a welcome to senior maritime personnel. Locals are happy that they can now get better training and work opportunities for thousands of potential sea-persons than in a decade. And get an apprentice type sheme going again.
Thinking about Trump. Isn’t he the embodiment of all the things that are negative about America. See him and you see it all walking and talking.
It is a folk tale come to life. We are the little child with naive eyes not impressed by conflicting and conflating stories about what we should see and notice, and there in front of us is the USA with no clothes on. Ugh.
At least the mask is off.
He’s the true face of the one per cent. He is Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, and all the rest of those parasites and enemies of the public good, rolled into one pudgy, repellent and orange-hued personality.
We shouldn’t feel too superior, however. We have several homegrown versions of this horrible phenomenon….
http://mediawhores.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/bob-jones.jpg
https://www.odt.co.nz/sites/default/files/story/2016/09/eric_watson_photo_by_nzpa__4c6c64d3aa.jpeg
Meanwhile, the darling of the liberal left, Tesla’s Eion Musk, shows his anti-union colours
The what of the who?
Domestic violence leave a small cost to employers but priceless to victims
Now this sounds like a good idea to help deal with our domestic violence issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4702Ndv4JE
Today’s cornucopia of Trump-era Neonazi lunacy, the explicitly anti-democratic ‘Neoreactionary’ or ‘NRx’ movement. It’s a major ideological influence on Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel has been associated with it.
Says one who’s having peculiar wet dreams,
Apparently there’s a big underground movement of right-wing bodybuilders — thousands. Their plan is to surface spectacularly this April, in a choreographed flash demo on the Mall. They’ll be totally nude, but wearing MAGA hats. Goal is to intimidate Congress with pure masculine show of youth, energy. Trump is said to know, will coordinate with powerful EOs…
There’s more of the usual stuff you expect from socially inept manbabies – declaring themselves to be ubermenschen with IQs of 160, ‘reluctantly’ accepting their ‘historic’ role etc. These are the ones who instead of going on high school shooting sprees get into politics instead.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/behind-the-internets-dark-anti-democracy-movement/516243/
There are and always have been narcissistic idiots with chronic testosterone poisoning, but the recent and rapid shift of the deeply misogynistic and authoritarian alt-right into the cultural spotlight with Bannon’s rise to the effective control of the presidency is a new and substantial threat.
BTW, I wonder if they’re planning on their march in winter? There’ll be shrinkage…
More on Bannon’s apocalyptic thinking:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-bannon-apocalypse-third-world-war-coming-white-house-donald-trump-historian-claim-film-david-a7570631.html?cmpid=facebook-post
Another one of those crude historical pseudotheories on nations’ (read races’) intrinsic qualities (blood and soil) and the inevitability, even necessity of a racially ‘cleansing’ war.
Shades of Aryan body beautiful images as allegedly showing the superiority of of the “race”.
This whole muscular body building lark really accelerated with the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s.
Time for an anti-muscular body revolution. Let’s all hear it for the weedy and the non-athletic body!
Oh they’re body beautiful, alright.
https://mic.com/articles/168188/milk-nazis-white-supremacists-creamy-pseudo-science-trump-shia-labeouf#.7Lt0YnArN
Oh dear. So they can’t even do a credible Aryan super race presentation!
Looks like the super race in decay!
That looks familiar:
http://www.thefashionisto.com/a-clockwork-orange-its-influence-on-style-fashion-pop-culture/
Yup, but more juggalo than droog, I reckon.
That sounds like satire/trolling TBH.
Here’s an Idea!
Facebook to add punch button for responding to posts by Nazi’s!
In the interests of balance, the site has told alt-right users, their stunning meltdowns when presented with evidence which contradicts their Breitbart-bubble generated opinions, will also be accommodated.
“We’re adding a snowflake-shaped button just for you,”
Maybe something to be considered?
😈
“Punch the Nazi” is a good idea, but New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder got there first….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUdYgBhF9-w
Oh boy…..
U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a “gift” to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a “spy” and a “traitor” who deserves to be executed.
That’s according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations and who says a Snowden handover is one of various ploys to “curry favor” with Trump. A second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence about the Russian conversations and notes it has been gathered since the inauguration.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/russia-eyes-sending-snowden-u-s-gift-trump-official-n718921?
Pardoning Snowden, or more appropriately, awarding him the Congressional Medal of Honor, was just another of the things Hopey Changey could have and should have done but didn’t. Too busy, I guess….
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/08/barack-obama-richard-branson-kitesurfing-trip-necker-island
Christ on a bike, are news outlets ever going to learn?
It’s like being back at primary school and accumulating knowledge of the world through playground gossip.
An anonymous person who claims to have access to highly sensitive intelligence reports waffles shite and gets backing from another anonymous person. Sure. I’m taking that hook, line and sinker.
——
Snowden’s ‘leave to remain’ has been extended for three years and he can apply for citizenship next year.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/edward-snowden-allowed-to-stay-in-russia-for-a-couple-of-years
Do you think Putin won’t truss Snowden in xmas paper and deliver him with a bow should it be politically expedient to do so?.
I think that if you read the Guardian link from January 18th you’ll see that nbc is just recycling speculative bullshit that was put out there by (according to The Guardian on the 18th) former acting CIA director Michael Morell.
It’s tedious.
As for what Putin may or may not do with regards whatever or whoever in whatever situation – I’m not psychic.
Is it really too much to be asking that news be informative rather than scraping along in the sludge of bullshit gossip?
Ed ain’t too confident it won’t happen.
Sure. (But what’s your point?)
From the Guardian link already provided…
In November, Snowden said he believed there was a chance Putin might hand him over to Trump as part of a deal. “It’s possible. It would be crazy to dismiss the idea of this guy who presents himself as a big deal maker [Trump] as trying to make a deal,” he said.
If they successfully corroborate the golden showers, will they…ahem…announce it by leaking?
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/russia-dossier-update/index.html
Andre, it doesn’t matter if they corroborate the reports or not. As we’ve seen, Trump can get away with anything. Even if there was a photo of him KILLING one of those women, his “base” of hapless imbeciles would still support him.
They say they can verify that some electronic interchanges happened between foreigners at the times alleged in the so-called dossier.
Okay.
So how many telephone calls or such like between foreigners are detailed or alleged to have taken place in that ‘dossier’?
I’m picking the only communications that can be being referred to are those that Christopher Steele (UK citizen) had with other foreign sources A through K or whatever.
Like I say above – seems too many news outlets are happy to be nothing better than breathless school ground gossip mongers trying to make out that their banal shite is somehow important. Do CNN (and others) not give a toss about how they’re perceived or how they will become to be perceived?
Confirmation of connections and inappropriate behaviour between Trump’s people and Russia keep getting stronger.
“UPDATE: On Friday morning, the Trump administration confirmed that Flynn did speak to the Russian ambassador about the sanctions.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/flynn-trump-washington-post-russia
Morrissey,
As you know my comment was in response to your statement;
“You will therefore be supportive of any drone strike carried out against US domiciled terrorists, Cheney, Rice, Obama, Trump by forces government or non governmental from say Syria, or Iran, or Lebanon…”
You have been quite clear that you consider that the drone strikes by the US are terrorist attacks. The above comment seemed to indicate that you thought ISIS etc could legitimately carry out their own drone attacks in response. I simply drew a logical extension about the NZ Parliament since NZ is part of the anti ISIS coalition.
Do I actually think that you believe that about the NZ parliament? No I don”t.
It was simply a response to your view that seems to place ISIS and the US, UK (and given NZ role in the ISIS campaign, NZ as well) on the same moral equivalence.
My comment was to illustrate my point about the ultimate outcome of moral equivalence.
It was not actually intended to be personal, but rather to illustrate a point
Extrajudicial executions with civilian “collateral damage” are morally wrong no matter who does it.
That Wayne thinks that they are acceptable, says a great deal about his lack of moral compass.
Not only that, but drone strikes and bombing in general are counterproductive, because it simply inspires more revenge on the perpetrators, sorry – terrorism”.
Spot on KJT
A terrorist is someone with a bomb who doesn’t have an air force.
Any one going to norightturn and searching ‘Mapp’ ….
will see an illustration of crap ….
Wayne was the closest to a self proclaimed wannabe ‘propeganda minister’ …we have had in modern NZ times ….
“National has appointed Wayne Mapp its spokesman for “Political Correctness Eradication”.” ………….. This was during a very dishonest and very racist National PR offensive from honest don brash and key versus Helen …… with her strange Iwi/kiwi … where both racists and Maori were being sold out by her…. (with Maori being correct)
“for a final kick of the dead horse (pending further stupidity from Mapp, that is), in this morning’s Herald, Brian Rudman calls Wayne Mapp’s position as chief PC eradicator a humiliation and a “nonsense role”, and wonders whether Mapp will ever be able to return to Auckland University without sniggers following him down the corridors. ”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2005/10/eradicating-equality.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2005/10/final-kick.html
aside from all the crony perk work ….Wayne is basically just a obnoxious troll now ( ie KDS ,green Taliban etc ) …………
…. with a huge bulls eye stuck to his ass …. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=mapp
How to persuade gullible people when the evidence is against you. Impossible expections, cherry-picking, blowfish strategies and so on.
https://theconversation.com/what-do-gorilla-suits-and-blowfish-fallacies-have-to-do-with-climate-change-72560
And we see all of those from the RWNJs as they try to distract from the reality that their policies bring about.
Interesting article on the decline of the credibility of statistics and expertise.
Audio:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2017/feb/06/how-statistics-lost-their-power-and-why-we-should-fear-what-comes-next-podcast
Text:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/19/crisis-of-statistics-big-data-democracy
Pertinent in relation to Andre’s post at 17, on the role of experts and statistics in public discourse.
Essentially, gross statistical presentation does not match local conditions, which inevitably vary from the national mean, and of course statistics-gathering has political and cultural biases – GDP does not mention unpaid work usually done by women for example. All of this leads to resentment and distrust.
However, Big Data is on the rise and is generated not by active questioning and surveys, but by harvesting the data we all leave in our everyday activities. That is usually privatised.
The author concludes by warning that that we are leaving a period when data was publicly accessible and useable to an age when it is privatised. Experts and technocrats won’t disappear under a hail of rotten tomatoes, they will simply go behind closed doors.
Congratulations to Deborah Russell who won the nomination for New Lynn. Commiserations Greg Presland who would have made a good MP.
Bugger. Good for us though 🙂 and I’m sure Russell will do well. (now I’ve got some mad game of Labour Party musical chairs going on in my head, but am biting my tongue).