The establishment are clearly determined to either prevent Trump from becoming President or to deligitimise him.
We are living in an era of fake news run by the corporate media to forward its owners agenda.
Sadly Radio NZ is also an echo chambers for this propaganda.
You are being played folks.
After the lying propaganda you put out yesterday Paul, you are complaining about others doing the same thing?
And maybe you think no one notices how you repeatedly slink away when any FACTS get close to the lies you are attempting to play, like you did again yesterday?
You are no better than any of the ‘evil’ forces you rant about daily – just as willing to lie and deceive yourself and others in order to push your individual philosophy. A f**ing hypocrite in other words.
Thanks for the ad hominem. I’d appreciate it if you tackled the issue rather than shoot the messenger. I appreciate its a difficult topic to discuss, as it may involve questioning some certainties and preconceptions we were brought up to believe.
Did you believe the stories about WMD and Saddam Hussein?
If you don’t trust Cowspiracy as a source, watch Before the Flood. It would appear irrefutable that meat eating is a major unspoken part of our carbon footprint.
Animal Agriculture is not an ‘unspoken’ part of our carbon footprint Paul? It is extremely well studied and documented?
My issue is that you referred us yesterday to a documentary that claimed that 53% of World Greenhouse emissions were caused by Animal Agriculture.
I am saying that is untrue.
I quoted from the IPCC’s 5th assessment yesterday that Agriculture in total provided 14% of Global GHGE.
That same assessment shows that the burning of fossil fuels for various purposes accounts for over 65% of global GHGE.
I can find no credible scientific source that disagrees with that basic scenario.
Can you produce credible scientific evidence that the IPCC is wrong about all that?
If not, do you have the honesty to concede the ‘Cowspiracy’ documentary is wildly inaccurate, and therefore the claim you made that eating meat is the single most destructive thing you can do to the environment has no basis in fact?
From my analysis of that report it looks highly likely that most people in NZ would be in the top 10% of the Worlds richest people anyway, so maybe talking to the people around you would be a good start?
Yeah well now we seen conclusively he is a dishonest pusher of lying propaganda that doesn’t have the guts to back up or withdraw the lying propaganda he pushes…
He can rest easy. I won’t bother wasting anymore time exposing him for the hypocrite he is.
It’s all clear Paul, you can go back to deceiving yourself and the other conspiracy theorists in your usual manner.
I’m happy to move onto that, once you have dealt with the questions already in hand Paul.
In 1.1.2.1 above I have asked you to address some specific questions regarding the previous documentary you cited, and the claim you made deriving from that.
Aspects of Cowspiracy may be inaccurate as you claim.
I don’t know.
However the film Before the Flood also makes the connection between meat eating and climate change.
So clearly there is some consensus on this.
Let me guess, they’re comparing feedlot meat with conventional cropping. It’s a nonsense argument Paul, because it’s based on BAU and BAU is killing the planet whether we eat meat or soy. If you are now reading permaculture, you will be getting to some of this. We need polyculture food production, and many of those systems do better with livestock in them.
A ‘consensus’?
Two Vegan fanatics that are happy to lie outright, and a Hollywood actor who by his own admission just about killed the planet with his travel carbon footprint in order to make a documentary showcasing his ‘green concern’ credentials?
Is that a sufficient standard of proof for you Paul? Are you happy to accept other peoples claims on that level of proof yourself?
It ain’t for me, not by a long long shot!
What about some credible scientific consensus to back up your claims as I asked for? Find any of that?
“More than 5m premature deaths could be avoided globally by 2050 if health guidelines on meat consumption were followed, rising to more than 7m with a vegetarian diet and 8m on veganism”
And how is that going to help the carbon footprint? This is the problem with these kind of reductionist analyses. They just end up looking stupid.
Thanks Paul,
Both links take there baseline from the FAO 2006 figure ‘Emissions from livestock account for 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gases’ (More than the IPCC 2013, but lets not quibble).
So I think we now agree that ‘Cowspiracy’ is completely and utterly inaccurate in claiming 53%?
And that neither report says anything even remotely like ‘eating meat is the single most destructive thing you can do the environment’ so we can dismiss that claim of yours as completely and utterly inaccurate also.
Thanks weka that’s a great link to read and hear. Reminds me of the efforts of Men of the Trees, which included women as well. I think that the UN have taken up the idea and some countries adopted it big time but we need to embrace it desperately now.
I wonder how soon we can start a target for each one of us to plant a tree once a year, on Arbour Day or some regional anniversary day, and have a mixed landscape not mono-pirad-culture and have some pines that produce pine seeds and so on, hard wood, trees that are resistant to fire destruction all getting a look in.
A bit of leadership and organisation from good pollies functioning well, not dysfunctional and assymetric.
Hi weka
Another idea, using conserved water in lakes etc and at same time limiting evaporation.
Have floating mats of reeds or such, that wouldn’t leach out unfavourable or toxic substances and have vegetables growing on them in a fairly uncontrolled way, that would draw nutrients needed from the water, so no added fertilisers, and there would be a regular route through them by the farmers or custodians or kaitiaki to pluck out growths that would overwhelm the food plants chosen.
Fish would feed on the underside of them and it could have many benefits once trialled and the right methods and types chosen.
It would seem the neoliberal establishment will stop at nothing to ensure they stay in control.
As their agenda involves ramping up tensions against China and Russia, i would agree with your conclusion about the outcome.
They clearly are trying to control matters.
And to their misfortune the peoples of Iraq. Syria, Libya, East Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and numerous other countries are victims of the deep state and military industrial complex’s desire to control matters.
Garibaldi, obviously you fail to see the bigger picture of what is happening in Africa and the Middle East. The US foreign policy over many, many years has not changed.
Demanding that evidence-free, anonymous assertions be instantly venerated as Truth — despite emanating from the very precincts designed to propagandize and lie — is an assault on journalism, democracy, and basic human rationality. And casually branding domestic adversaries who refuse to go along as traitors and disloyal foreign operatives is morally bankrupt and certain to backfire on those doing it.
Beyond all that, there is no bigger favor that Trump opponents can do for him than attacking him with such lowly, shabby, obvious shams, recruiting large media outlets to lead the way. When it comes time to expose actual Trump corruption and criminality, who is going to believe the people and institutions who have demonstrated they are willing to endorse any assertions no matter how factually baseless, who deploy any journalistic tactic no matter how unreliable and removed from basic means of ensuring accuracy?
All of these toxic ingredients were on full display yesterday as the Deep State unleashed its tawdriest and most aggressive assault yet on Trump: …
When he starts using phrases like “Nobody should crave the rule of Deep State overlords.”, that’s an appeal to pretty base emotion and it’s a propaganda technique, not journalism.
He also way understates how much caution mainstream outlets are placing around this to further his narrative of trashing mainstream journalism.
Good points about some of the way Greenwald frames his article. It’s a point in favour of many MSM outlets that they didn’t rush to publish about unverified data.
OTOH, it does seem to me that caution is needed in accepting the dossier. It does seem to me to be part of some covert warfare. I trust neither the CIA nor Putin’s surveillance services and propaganda.
I also detest Trump and his (often contradictory) policies/agenda, but think the way to counter him is through the kinds of processes Greenwald recommends.
Thing is, Buzzfeed never said “this is all true”/. They released the full dossier after CNN reported on its existence. Not surprising people took it andf ran with it, with the inauguration looming people needed a goood laugh.
Yeah, fact-checking, independent corroboration, and looking at what someone actually does are a lot more important than the entertaining noise.
To me it’s a really interesting balance on whether to publish the 35 pages or not. That the intel agencies have briefed Obama and Trump about the allegations is a fact, and something I think should be publicly known. Given that the agencies apparently give it enough credence for it to form the basis of the brief, are we better served by seeing the raw data, or by having mysterious allegations floating around?
I’m curious whether the agencies have other independent corroboration of any of it, but we’ll probably never know since that might expose sources and methods. IMO, if the 35 pages is all they’ve got then it’s another big black mark against their credibility. OTOH, there’s enough solidly documented stuff showing links between Trump and his team and Russian interests, so I’d be surprised if the agencies didn’t have a lot of stuff that’s not public (yet).
I haven’t read all the way through those 35 pages yet. But as far as I can see so far, a lot of it is…an anonymous person talks to some people and some of them tell them that they heard that so and so said such and such.
In other words, a fair smattering of hear-say. Gossip.
A 70 year old business tycoon has contacts in Russia. Big deal.
He allegedly has some fetishes. Big deal.
And the stuff about the goings on of oligarchs might, or so I’d think, rub two ways…ie, I’d imagine US authorities would be curious about some of their activities.
The thing that bothers me is that it seems a fair chunk of the Republican Party is working in cahoots with a fair chunk of the Democratic Party and the Intelligence Agencies; that all the above are using overly compliant mainstream news outlets to swipe the legs out from under the democratically elected President of the US.
And I’m under no illusions they would have done the same if it was Sanders who was about to be President, just as over the pond, sections of the establishment are working hand in glove with one another and media outlets there to discredit Corbyn.
I get it that people enjoy reveling in ‘giving one’ to Trump. But there’s something more important going on here that deserves our attention.
If ‘the people’ were doing something that was gathering steam that might lead to a ‘take down’ of Trump, I’d be right there with them in spirit. But this is an establishment under siege seeking to re-assert itself. And my enemy’s enemy isn’t my friend – I won’t be cheering them on.
The establishment are clearly determined to either prevent Trump from becoming President or to deligitimise him.
Er, what? First, they can’t and therefore won’t prevent him from taking office, and second, nothing they could come up with to “de-legitimise” him could beat the stuff he’s come up with all on his own. Third, in what sense is a billionaire property developer with a private plane and a trophy wife not “the establishment?”
Last week I had a house full of visitors, it was awesome. Anyways some of my visitors had stopped in at Kaikoura to visit family before coming up here. Family that are heavily involved in earthquake recovery and rebuilding there.
Turns out Brownlee was very arrogant when he visited, he was very angry at the public for embarrassing him in front of the media, and that’s coming from someone that attended the meeting and I was told is not a fan of the farmer that had a go at Brownlee. It’s always good to get the facts from those whom were there rather than the media spin. Doubt Brownlee will be back in Kaikoura anytime soon.
Guess that’s why they sent Mr Dildo this time, no public meeting, just a swift visit and meeting with selected local businesses.
A cursory examination of Brownlee’s history reveals it doesn’t really take much to make him angry. He has form for getting all bent out of shape whenever anyone questions him, or disputes his statements. He’s basically an ill-tempered bully with a chip on his shoulder.
An interesting read. Who wants to bet various people in government haven’t “taken out insurance” by doing things like making copies of his tax returns?
Just purchased a copy of Chris Trotters ‘No Left Turn’ from the discards table at Hastings Library. Nice copy, 50 cents.
Leaving one copy available between the 3 Libraries (Flaxmere, Hastings and Havelock North). All areas that, for very different reasons, could do with some political education.
WELL DONE to those responsible for the gutting of our libraries, and their fine contribution to dumbing down and keeping the population as ill informed as possible.
Specially noted is the fact that you sold off a large number of Shakespeare books on his anniversary, and gutted the politics section in the year leading up to the Elections.
How very timely.
Well, Foss got a little reminder not to slam the door on the way out, and that’s good enough for me. Now we have the prospect of the residents of Havelock North rewarding their poisoner, the ‘humbled’ Lawrence Yule, with a position in National. Maybe.
President Barack Obama has put Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified material, on his short list for a possible commutation, a Justice Department source told NBC News.
The longer one keeps cycling back into Trash. I can’t do anything about that sorry. Here’s what it said,
In reply to Sacha.
What inspired you most, Sacha?
[1] The way he linked the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq with the brave resistance struggles of Stonewall and Selma?
[2] His irony-free condemnation of Russia while stating, with a straight face, that the U.S. is not a “country that bullies smaller neighbors”? ,
[3] Was it his canting about Islamic terrorism—which the United States supports both diplomatically and militarily in Syria—while remaining silent about Christian and Israeli terrorism?
[4] Or perhaps you were inspired by his praise of “those who marched for justice” while his henchmen pursue and traduce Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, and while Chelsea Manning rots in solitary confinement.
You could try taking out the number formatting, it looks odd in the original comment so maybe that’s why it’s going to trash. Or it could be the random bug.
I can’t remember what the shorter one was, so can’t find it. It doesn’t look like it’s in Trash, and I’m guessing from memory that it was in the same Obama’s last speech thread.
I wonder when the bubble crowd will get it, just jokes. I know they never will – they will take it as personal abuse, be offended, then look for someone to blame for them being offended.
May as well be me today.
The labour party in a liberal party and voting for them is a waste of time if you are actually interested in the rights, and needs of working people.
Plus they really do need to get off there high horse and accusing people of giving up on civil rights. Civil rights is a given, we just think your kidding yourself for thinking that we can get civil rights under a liberal system.
A wage slave who thinks they are free – is a simpler slave to deal with, than a slave who knows they are under the yoke of wage slavery.
Adam
Then again slaves in other places have at times been well treated, some have been able to buy out of their servitude.
At present we are in a culture that doesn’t even want slaves, it wants to deal with people who have money which is an artificial way of gaining credits. , But it doesn’t want to buy into the economic circle of employment, earnings, spending on things from human employment.
We are all under the yoke of our basic needs, and wage slavery can be viewed as security if one has decent wages and is respected in society and can have a full life. Bob Dylan sings it – You’ve got to serve someone. The plumber and his client, the grocer and his customer, both need each other. But with the damned talent we have for trying to break the human circle and play with our cunning machines, we humans collaborate to make our race redundant and base.
Trying to justfy your bondage does not mean you are not a slave.
We may not like slavery, but as a culture we tolerate it on so many levels. Never have we had so many sex slaves, never have so many women and children been held in such open bondage.
Let you onto a secret – Being anti-authoritarian means embracing freedom.
Servering unto others by free will is human, service to others to survive, is slavery.
Adam
Let you onto a not-secret but still not admitted by many – freedom espousing people often become authoritarian.
There are no perfect approaches to living ‘right’ in human society, just a constant effort to maintain a balance, at the top end of a sliding scale, with freedom at the high end and subjugation at the other.
A state house has been unwrapped on Auckland’s waterfront, but its not for living in – its a million-dollar sculpture. Is this irony, or not ? Maybe its a memorial.
nah its a statement to greed and stupidity.
and all the nice polite society will come and ohhh and aahhhh and get pictures taken for the gossip sites sipping champagne and wearing fancy dresses.
Michael Parekowhai, who lived in Northcote which contained a large state housing area, obviously understood the importance for a family of a place to call home. The house is a monument to a kinder era when the state understood the importance of providing housing to the people who needed it. Children could grow up in an area and complete their schooling at the local high school. Stability was valued.
In my view this Parekowhai house is also a monument of shame for this government.
Today’s precarious families are temporarily housed in motels, cars, and garages and made to feel like losers while the government flicks off the old state houses and tenants are forced to leave their communities, disrupting schooling and fracturing social links.
If the building highlights this government’s failure in social housing enough to incite voters to dump this government, then perhaps it will have fulfilled a greater purpose than that envisaged by the real estate firm donor.
+ 100% Tautoko Mango Mata. I had similar thoughts when I first viewed this sculpture, and wondered if it was also some kind of political statement (to be expected from Michael Parekowhai) .
Ultra-conservative Russian lawmaker Yelena Mizulina is a senator in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament. She successfully campaigned for anti-LGBTQ legislature against “gay propaganda” which has made homosexual relationships and people subject to fines and punishment, and has been connected to a rise in anti-gay violence in Russia. She is now working to make domestic violence more acceptable.
The Guardian reported in August that Mizulina had introduced a new bill to the State Duma, which would decriminalize violence within families, subjecting perpetrators to fines rather than jail time. She stated at the time, “Battery carried out toward family members should be an administrative offense,” adding, “You don’t want people to be imprisoned for two years and labelled a criminal for the rest of their lives for a slap.”
i told a friend in the US today to stock up condoms, morning after pill,and so on.
She laughed and said she had closed shop a while ago. I reminded her that she had one boy and two girls in their midteens and they have not even opened shop yet.
but nevermind. i am just showing my privilege of being a first world woman.
Fair enough, and we’re just getting started with this shit
For those that don’t quite get it, women in the US are stocking up on birth control because access is expected to get harder. Transgender people who use hormones likewise, and other people who need meds for health reasons because they think they’re going to lose their health coverage.
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:…
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
In NZ doctors can refuse care to women who need an abortion, on moral grounds. And Chris Trotter just made the argument that identity politics are a problem because they stop MPs from being free to make decisions on moral grounds, so I guess we’re not so far removed.
curious, i saw no stated restriction on MPs nor tyre marks…..I did see however an appeal to tolerance and a dismissal of polarisation.Sound advice at any time, and particularly so now.
“So brightly did “identity politics” shine that Labour’s long-standing tradition of agreeing to disagree on issues of personal morality retreated into the shadows”
Abortion access, transgender rights, even disability rights in this day and age, all issues of personal morality. I took Trotter to be saying that MPs should be free to act on their conscience without the social and political pressure of identity politics.
The word MP or caucus is not mentioned….he is speaking of the party and the demos.
Within broadly agreed principles that serve all there is a recognition that experience, belief and views differ….or in other words, it is unrealistic to expect homogeneity in other than small groups…and politics is numbers.
an appalling organisation that has run roughshod over particularly the elderly and vulnerable (though not exclusively)…..and the CEO gets a bonus and a nice new job and the Minister remains at head and unrepentant.
“EQC suggested she make a complaint to the Ombudsman as a last resort. But Mrs Jones has lost all faith in the system.
How many people have been wrongfully accused of serious criminal offending by a Government organisation that is supposed to step up and help people in a time of need? ”
Damn them for their ‘kick them when they’re down’ culture.
Thanks Pat for bringing this to our attention. Clearly some outfit had a contract with EQC to assess for eligibility and install the heat pumps and were way too quick off the mark… maybe to jump start their revenue stream?
Was this heat pump thing some sort of ‘aren’t we being so nice to the poor folks of Christchurch’ PR exercise?
‘Was this heat pump thing some sort of ‘aren’t we being so nice to the poor folks of Christchurch’ PR exercise?”
It was painted as that at one stage…..however this particular incident and heat pumps in general are but a microcosm of the whole EQC experience for thousands…..the advice to refer to the Ombudsman is farcical (as the aggrieved party probably well knew) as those that appealed to the Ombudsman were not served at all and the office themselves stated no ability or desire to rule with regard EQC.
“…but a microcosm of the whole EQC experience for thousands…..the advice to refer to the Ombudsman is farcical…”
We were travelling in the SI in February 2011, and again in 2013, and spoke with hundreds of people affected by the ‘quakes. Many we have spent time with literally fled Christchurch, never to return, such was the trauma not only of the big ‘quakes but the thousands of aftershocks.
Without fail, all have had negative experiences with EQC and their contractors.
For most of these people, having to apply to EQC for compensation for damage to their homes was the first time they had ever had to go cap in hand to a government agency to get the assistance they believed they had paid for via levies and taxes.
Extremely sobering process, and it was not only the sense of betrayal they felt at how they were treated, but absolute shock that fellow Kiwis, employed by this Government agency, could do their work with seemingly cheerful disregard at the devastating effects on the lives of these citizen users.
And accounts such as this indicates a level of almost sociopathic dedication to their appointed tasks.
The other day Bomber Bradbury, in an article endeavoring to instruct Gareth Morgan on how to create a better ‘anti-establishment’ party, made an interesting statement…
“Labour can’t criticise what those Government Departments do to the poorest and weakest members of society because they are beholden to the PSA…”
And when I think about it…has Labour actually kicked up the appropriate amount of shit when stories like this make it into the light of day?
Because if any one incident over the past 8 years of this mob’s rule has galvanised the general public into criticism of government departments it is how EQC shat all over the Canterbury claimants.
Don’t think being beholden to the PSA was the issue…..many of EQCs employees were contractors and were unlikely to be members. Labours lack of advocacy was noted and grates with many, though a couple of MPs did extremely helpful work, but at an individual case level (still believe time will show a grand coalition immediately after the second quake)…..like WINZ the culture is driven from above.
Hmmm….my thoughts are tending in the direction of comparing this situation with what happened with the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services and the Carer Support Subsidy.
MOH:DSS, almost immediately upon its inception in about 2000, contracted out almost every aspect of support for disabled Kiwis who are not under ACC, including the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination service…through which those with disabilities have to traverse in order to access any funding for supports.
Because of the overriding emphasis placed on only funding ‘unmet needs’ and hugely emphasising the requirement for only funding what family won’t or can’t do, many families living with disability found that the only government funded support available was CSS…which because of the punitive restrictions around who can be paid for what and the fact it is funded at $3 per hour (already financially struggling families simply cannot afford to make up the shortfall to meet minimum wage) those of us who were allocated Carer Support days found them very difficult to utilise if we kept strictly within the rules.
I was allocated 110 days in late 2002 after having tried and failed to find ‘formal’ care for my man so I could address a health issue. This large allocation was made by the NASC (who assesses and coordinates services under contract for the MOH DSS) and because of the large allocation was approved by MOH head office.
When I phoned our NASC (remember, a contracted provider for the MOH) and said this didn’t solve the problem (of needing carers) and was not enough to actually pay for care through a provider, I was told by the NASC to be “creative” with the funding.
The last thing anyone can accuse me of is creativity, so I was not caught up in the pogrom instituted by the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services in 2010 and 2012 against disabled people and their chosen family carers committing Carer Support fraud. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/3418235/Care-support-fraud-hits-1-million
(Those with a decent memory will remember that publicity around these pogroms coincided with the Human Rights Tribunal decision saying the family carers should be paid a wage in January 2010 and the Appeal Court decision upholding the HRRT decision in May 2012)
And ironically, there was little if any acknowledgement that the hundreds of family carers who were getting paid (in breach of the discriminatory policy) were being paid under ‘arrangements’ facilitated by the contracted providers…who were never publicly investigated for this.
At no time was there any public acknowledgement that Carer Support funding was only allocated after an assessment by a MOH contracted provider…who was also charged with ensuring that the allocatee was appraised of and followed the rules for use.
At no stage was there any public acknowledgement that NASCs were instructing disabled people and their family carers on how to “be creative” in order to access this very limited and inflexible support funding….and hence placing these families at risk of prosecution.
(Bear in mind, that CSS is allocated on a kind of pro rata basis…so many days CSS for so many hours per week of unpaid care…in my case…the $8200 per year CSS was instead of the MOH funding $80,000 for ‘formal’ care. )
But as civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, Congressional Black Caucus head Rep. Cedric Richmond and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker testified that Sessions’ confirmation to head the Department of Justice would set back the cause for universal civil rights, only one Republican on the committee remained to listen.
“I want to express my concerns about being made to testify at the very end of the witness panels,” Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond said to applause from members of the Congressional Black Caucus seated behind him in the Russell Senate building. “To have a senator, a House member and a living civil rights legend testify at the end of all of this is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus.”
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Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
I was interested in David Seymour's public presentation of the Justice Select Committee's report after the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill.I noted the arguments he presented and fact checked him. I welcome corrections and additions to what I have written but want to keep the responses concise.The Treaty of ...
Well, he runs around with every racist in townHe spent all our money playing his pointless gameHe put us out; it was awful how he triedTables turn, and now his turn to cryWith apologies to writers Bobby Womack and Shirley Womack.Eight per cent, asshole, that’s all you got.Smiling?Let me re-phrase…Eight ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The S&P 500 fell another 5.6% this morning after China retaliated with tariffs of 34% on all US imports, and the Fed warned of stagflation without rate cut relief.Delays for heart surgeries and scans are costing lives, specialists have told Stuff’s Nicholas Jones.Meanwhile, ...
When the US Navy’s Great White Fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1908, it was an unmistakeable signal of imperial might, a flexing of America’s newfound naval muscle. More than a century later, the Chinese ...
While there have been decades of complaints – from all sides – about the workings of the Resource Management Act (RMA), replacing is proving difficult. The Coalition Government is making another attempt.To help answer the question, I am going to use the economic lens of the Coase Theorem, set out ...
2027 may still not be the year of war it’s been prophesised as, but we only have two years left to prepare. Regardless, any war this decade in the Indo-Pacific will be fought with the ...
Australia must do more to empower communities of colour in its response to climate change. In late February, the Multicultural Leadership Initiative hosted its Our Common Future summits in Sydney and Melbourne. These summits focused ...
Questions 1. In his godawful decree, what tariff rate was imposed by Trump upon the EU?a. 10% same as New Zealandb. 20%, along with a sneer about themc. 40%, along with an outright lie about France d. 69% except for the town Melania comes from2. The justice select committee has ...
Yesterday the Trump regime in America began a global trade war, imposing punitive tariffs in an effort to extort political and economic concessions from other countries and US companies and constituencies. Trump's tariffs will make kiwis nearly a billion dollars poorer every year, but Luxon has decided to do nothing ...
Here’s 7 updates from this morning’s news:90% of submissions opposed the TPBNZ’s EV market tanked by Coalition policies, down ~70% year on yearTrump showFossil fuel money driving conservative policiesSimeon Brown won’t say that abortion is healthcarePhil Goff stands by comments and makes a case for speaking upBrian Tamaki cleared of ...
It’s the 9 month mark for Mountain Tūī !Thanks to you all, the publication now has over 3200 subscribers, 30 recommendations from Substack writers, and averages over 120,000 views a month. A very small number in the scheme of things, but enough for me to feel satisfied.I’m been proud of ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on National's racist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, and recommended by majority that it not proceed. So hopefully it will now rapidly go to second reading and be voted down. As for submissions, it turns out that around 380,000 people submitted on ...
We need to treat disinformation as we deal with insurgencies, preventing the spreaders of lies from entrenching themselves in the host population through capture of infrastructure—in this case, the social media outlets. Combining targeted action ...
After copping criticism for not releasing the report for nearly eight months, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released the Independent Intelligence Review on 28 March. It makes for a heck of a read. The review makes ...
After copping criticism for not releasing the report for nearly eight months, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released the Independent Intelligence Review on 28 March. It makes for a heck of a read. The review makes ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Donald Trump has shocked the global economy and markets with the biggest tariffs since the Smoot Hawley Act of 1930, which worsened the Great Depression.Global stocks slumped 4-5% overnight and key US bond yields briefly fell below 4% as investors fear a recession ...
Hi,I’ve been imagining a scenario where I am walking along the pavement in the United States. It’s dusk, I am off to get a dirty burrito from my favourite place, and I see three men in hoodies approaching.Anther two men appear from around a corner, and this whole thing feels ...
Since the announcement in September 2021 that Australia intended to acquire nuclear-powered submarines in partnership with Britain and the United States, the plan has received significant media attention, scepticism and criticism. There are four major ...
On a very wet Friday, we hope you have somewhere nice and warm and dry to sit and catch up on our roundup of some of this week’s top stories in transport and urbanism. The header image shows Northcote Intermediate Students strolling across the Te Ara Awataha Greenway Bridge in ...
On a very wet Friday, we hope you have somewhere nice and warm and dry to sit and catch up on our roundup of some of this week’s top stories in transport and urbanism. The header image shows Northcote Intermediate Students strolling across the Te Ara Awataha Greenway Bridge in ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and Elaine Monaghan on the week in geopolitics and climate, including Donald Trump’s tariff shock yesterday; and,Labour’s Disarmament and Associate ...
I'm gonna try real goodSwear that I'm gonna try from now on and for the rest of my lifeI'm gonna power on, I'm gonna enjoy the highsAnd the lows will come and goAnd may your dreamsAnd may your dreamsAnd may your dreams never dieSongwriters: Ben Reed.These are Stranger Days than ...
With the execution of global reciprocal tariffs, US President Donald Trump has issued his ‘declaration of economic independence for America’. The immediate direct effect on the Australian economy will likely be small, with more risk ...
The StrategistBy Jacqueline Gibson, Nerida King and Ned Talbot
AUKUS governments began 25 years ago trying to draw in a greater range of possible defence suppliers beyond the traditional big contractors. It is an important objective, and some progress has been made, but governments ...
I approach fresh Trump news reluctantly. It never holds the remotest promise of pleasure. I had the very, very least of expectations for his Rumble in the Jungle, his Thriller in Manila, his Liberation Day.God May 1945 is becoming the bitterest of jokes isn’t it?Whatever. Liberation Day he declared it ...
Beyond trade and tariff turmoil, Donald Trump pushes at the three core elements of Australia’s international policy: the US alliance, the region and multilateralism. What Kevin Rudd called the ‘three fundamental pillars’ are the heart ...
So, having broken its promise to the nation, and dumped 85% of submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill in the trash, National's stooges on the Justice Committee have decided to end their "consideration" of the bill, and report back a full month early: Labour says the Justice Select Committee ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review offers a mature and sophisticated understanding of workforce challenges facing Australia’s National Intelligence Community (NIC). It provides a thoughtful roadmap for modernising that workforce and enhancing cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration. ...
OPINION AND ANALYSIS:Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier’s comments singling out Health NZ for “acting contrary to the law” couldn’t be clearer. If you find my work of value, do consider subscribing and/or supporting me. Thank you.Health NZ has been acting a law unto itself. That includes putting its management under extraordinary ...
Southeast Asia’s three most populous countries are tightening their security relationships, evidently in response to China’s aggression in the South China Sea. This is most obvious in increased cooperation between the coast guards of the ...
In the late 1970s Australian sport underwent institutional innovation propelling it to new heights. Today, Australia must urgently adapt to a contested and confronting strategic environment. Contributing to this, a new ASPI research project will ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital waiting list crisis just gets worse, including compelling interviews with an over-worked surgeon who is leaving, and a patient who discovered after 19 months of waiting for a referral that her bowel and ovaries were fused together with scar tissue ...
Plainly, the claims being tossed around in the media last year that the new terminal envisaged by Auckland International Airport was a gold-plated “Taj Mahal” extravagance were false. With one notable exception, the Commerce Commission’s comprehensive investigation has ended up endorsing every other aspect of the airport’s building programme (and ...
Movements clustered around the Right, and Far Right as well, are rising globally. Despite the recent defeats we’ve seen in the last day or so with the win of a Democrat-backed challenger, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, over her Republican counterpart, Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, in the battle for ...
In February 2025, John Cook gave two webinars for republicEN explaining the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. 20 February 2025: republicEN webinar part 1 - BUST or TRUST? The scientific consensus on climate change In the first webinar, Cook explained the history of the 20-year scientific consensus on climate change. How do ...
After three decades of record-breaking growth, at about the same time as Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, China’s economy started the long decline to its current state of stagnation. The Chinese Communist Party ...
The Pike River Coal mine was a ticking time bomb.Ventilation systems designed to prevent methane buildup were incomplete or neglected.Gas detectors that might warn of danger were absent or broken.Rock bolting was skipped, old tunnels left unsealed, communication systems failed during emergencies.Employees and engineers kept warning management about the … ...
Regional hegemons come in different shapes and sizes. Australia needs to think about what kind of hegemon China would be, and become, should it succeed in displacing the United States in Asia. It’s time to ...
RNZ has a story this morning about the expansion of solar farms in Aotearoa, driven by today's ground-breaking ceremony at the Tauhei solar farm in Te Aroha: From starting out as a tiny player in the electricity system, solar power generated more electricity than coal and gas combined for ...
After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and almost a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, US President George H W Bush proclaimed a ‘new world order’. Now, just two months ...
Warning: Some images may be distressing. Thank you for those who support my work. It means a lot.A shopfront in Australia shows Liberal leader Peter Dutton and mining magnate Gina Rinehart depicted with Nazi imageryUS Government Seeks Death Penalty for Luigi MangioneMangione was publicly walked in front of media in ...
Aged care workers rallying against potential roster changes say Bupa, which runs retirement homes across the country, needs to focus on care instead of money. More than half of New Zealand workers wish they had chosen a different career according to a new survey. Consumers are likely to see a ...
The scurrilous attacks on Benjamin Doyle, a list Green MP, over his supposed inappropriate behaviour towards children has dominated headlines and social media this past week, led by frothing Rightwing agitators clutching their pearls and fanning the flames of moral panic over pedophiles and and perverts. Winston Peter decided that ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
The landedAnd the wealthyAnd the piousAnd the healthyAnd the straight onesAnd the pale onesAnd we only mean the male ones!If you're all of the above, then you're ok!As we build a new tomorrow here today!Lyrics Glenn Slater and Allan Menken.Ah, Democracy - can you smell it?It's presently a sulphurous odour, ...
US President Donald Trump’s unconventional methods of conducting international relations will compel the next federal government to reassess whether the United States’ presence in the region and its security assurances provide a reliable basis for ...
Things seem to be at a pretty low ebb in and around the Reserve Bank. There was, in particular, the mysterious, sudden, and as-yet unexplained resignation of the Governor (we’ve had four Governors since the Bank was given its operational autonomy 35 years ago, and only two have completed their ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated. Neither side is in a position to achieve its stated objectives through military force. But now there is significant diplomatic activity as well. Ukraine has agreed to ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Three billion dollars has been wiped off the value of New Zealand's share market as the rout of global financial markets finally caught up with the local market. ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone One thing October 7 did accomplish was getting Israel and its allies to show the world their true face. Getting them to stand before all of humanity to say, “If you resist us, we’ll kill your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Hartigan, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Financial markets around the world have been slammed by the Trump adminstration’s sweeping tariffs on its trading partners, and China’s swift retaliation. Share markets have posted their biggest declines since the COVID pandemic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Percy, Professor of International Relations, The University of Queensland Australia faces crisis-level workforce shortfalls in security and defence. Recruiting more people to the defence force is now an urgent matter of national security. So, comments – such as those recently made ...
RNZ Pacific Autonomous Bougainville Government President Ishmael Toroama has condemned the circulation of an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video depicting a physical confrontation between him and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape. The clip, first shared on Facebook last week, is generated from the above picture of Toroama and Marape ...
"We need to continue speaking out against the government about this. Ka whawhai tonu tātou. We all benefit as New Zealanders when our indigenous people do well – nobody loses, because we all win,” Dr Will Flavell says. ...
This Defence Capability Plan will ensure that desperately needed public services here in Aotearoa are starved of resources and primed for privatisation, while US weapons companies drain our treasury and the US military sets us up to service them ...
Three billion dollars has been wiped off the value of New Zealand's share market as the rout of global financial markets finally caught up with the local market. ...
Spokesperson for The Sensible Sentencing Trust Louise Parsons says: “We were happy to make the image changes, but find it telling that they are trying to have our billboards taken down when they simply state what their MPs advocate for - the ‘radical abolition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Best, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Macquarie University NOWRA photography/Shutterstock Over the weekend, Labor promised to subsidise home batteries by 30%. This would save about A$4,000 per household up front for an average battery. The scheme has a goal of ...
The Government today announced a $12 billion dollar investment in defence capability over the next four years. But at the same time NZDF is planning to slash 374 roles from the civilian workforce, coming on top of cuts late last year which saw 144 civilian ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra James, Research Fellow, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University News feeds have been flooded with reactions to Adolescence, Netflix’s newest viral hit. Released in March, the limited series racked up over 66 million views in just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Young Australians will shape the upcoming federal election. For the first time, Gen Z and Millennials are the dominant voter bloc, outnumbering Baby Boomers. But over the past couple of years, we’ve heard stories from around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Two men were arrested for allegedly bringing loaded firearms into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) during Thursday’s AFL match between Collingwood and Carlton. The incident didn’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitie Kuempel, Lecturer, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University As climate change wreaks havoc with the world’s oceans, future production of fish, crustaceans and other aquatic organisms is under threat. Our new research shows how this disturbance will play out for ...
Pouārahi, Ivy Harper, said the Government and Te Puni Kōkiri had consistently overlooked clear research and data. The latest evaluation, completed by Ihi Research, was particularly compelling, she said. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland @logansfewd via Instagram “Sometimes you need to eat an entire cucumber.” So begins a series of viral videos by TikTok “cucumber guy” Logan Moffitt, who has raked in ...
The event will also feature speeches from workers and a panel of experts including Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo, Shamubeel Eaqub, Lyndy McIntyre and Ed Miller. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images When retail executives start swearing during earnings calls, something is clearly amiss. That’s what happened recently when the CEO of United States-based luxury furniture retailer Restoration Hardware ...
The Spinoff’s resident White Lotus geeks guess who’ll cark it in season three’s finale. (Legal disclaimer: Contains spoilers for the first seven episodes.)After eight weeks of analysing the theme song, drooling over the scenery and wondering how twisted the storylines can get, season three of The White Lotus concludes ...
The cost of unchecked influence The New Zealand public will gain many benefits from a fairer, transparent public policy making process - like a greater recognition of what the public values and more trust in government decision makers. ...
The most reliably brutal burn is to call someone average. Why? This article was first published on Madeleine Holden’s self-titled Substack. I have a painful confession: I’m responsible for not just one but two of the most viral anti-male slogans of the 2010s. I coined “dick is abundant and low value” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brian D Earp, Associate Director, Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy, University of Oxford Cybermagician / Shutterstock “I’m really not sure what to do anymore. I don’t have anyone I can talk to,” types a lonely user to an AI ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aruna Sathanapally, Grattan Institute The 2025 federal election coincides with a period of profound global uncertainty, as the Trump administration wreaks havoc on the free trade system and longstanding alliances. The events of recent months have underscored how, at each election, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jialing Lin, Research fellow, International Centre for Future Health Systems, UNSW Sydney Rose Marinelli/Shutterstock MyMedicare is a scheme that encourages patients to register with a regular GP practice to improve their health. But few patients have enrolled. Since its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Leihy, Ecologist, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Visitors to Australia are often shocked at having to declare an apple or wooden item under our biosecurity policies. Biosecurity policies are used to keep out pest species and diseases. But they’re expensive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamilla Rosdahl, Senior Lecturer, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Being labelled a “nice guy” was once considered a form of flattery. Today, however, anyone privy to the world of dating and romance will know this isn’t necessarily a compliment. The term ...
Shanti Mathias scrolls through council archives and Papers Past to discover where street names come from. In Sydenham, a suburb south of Christchurch’s CBD, there are some familiar names on the road signs. Milton Street. Coleridge Street. Wordsworth Street, which, naturally branches into Shakespeare Road. There’s Tennyson Street, of course, ...
The establishment are clearly determined to either prevent Trump from becoming President or to deligitimise him.
We are living in an era of fake news run by the corporate media to forward its owners agenda.
Sadly Radio NZ is also an echo chambers for this propaganda.
You are being played folks.
http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/the_real_purpose_of_the_us_governments_report_on_alleged_hacking_by_russi/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-10/4chan-claims-have-fabricated-anti-trump-report-hoax
After the lying propaganda you put out yesterday Paul, you are complaining about others doing the same thing?
And maybe you think no one notices how you repeatedly slink away when any FACTS get close to the lies you are attempting to play, like you did again yesterday?
You are no better than any of the ‘evil’ forces you rant about daily – just as willing to lie and deceive yourself and others in order to push your individual philosophy. A f**ing hypocrite in other words.
Thanks for the ad hominem. I’d appreciate it if you tackled the issue rather than shoot the messenger. I appreciate its a difficult topic to discuss, as it may involve questioning some certainties and preconceptions we were brought up to believe.
Did you believe the stories about WMD and Saddam Hussein?
I think lost sheep more than nailed the issue here Paul
If you don’t trust Cowspiracy as a source, watch Before the Flood. It would appear irrefutable that meat eating is a major unspoken part of our carbon footprint.
Animal Agriculture is not an ‘unspoken’ part of our carbon footprint Paul? It is extremely well studied and documented?
My issue is that you referred us yesterday to a documentary that claimed that 53% of World Greenhouse emissions were caused by Animal Agriculture.
I am saying that is untrue.
I quoted from the IPCC’s 5th assessment yesterday that Agriculture in total provided 14% of Global GHGE.
That same assessment shows that the burning of fossil fuels for various purposes accounts for over 65% of global GHGE.
I can find no credible scientific source that disagrees with that basic scenario.
Can you produce credible scientific evidence that the IPCC is wrong about all that?
If not, do you have the honesty to concede the ‘Cowspiracy’ documentary is wildly inaccurate, and therefore the claim you made that eating meat is the single most destructive thing you can do to the environment has no basis in fact?
And Iv got an article here that says the worlds richest 10% generate half the worlds emissions and that’s low balling https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/worlds-richest-10-produce-half-of-global-carbon-emissions-says-oxfam
So I’ll ask again. How do you tell some one they’re a hoarder
Send them an email?
From my analysis of that report it looks highly likely that most people in NZ would be in the top 10% of the Worlds richest people anyway, so maybe talking to the people around you would be a good start?
What are your ideas?
I’d rather send out a vote
PAUL?
Scuttled away again to that nice safe place where you don’t have to confront any FACTS that disagree with your lying propaganda?
He is employed by RT to dump and run, code name Paulsky, in spare time glove puppet to grenwald and pilger
Yeah well now we seen conclusively he is a dishonest pusher of lying propaganda that doesn’t have the guts to back up or withdraw the lying propaganda he pushes…
He can rest easy. I won’t bother wasting anymore time exposing him for the hypocrite he is.
It’s all clear Paul, you can go back to deceiving yourself and the other conspiracy theorists in your usual manner.
I have been busy.
I have suggested you watch Before the Flood.
Have you?
I’m happy to move onto that, once you have dealt with the questions already in hand Paul.
In 1.1.2.1 above I have asked you to address some specific questions regarding the previous documentary you cited, and the claim you made deriving from that.
Do you intend to do address those questions?
Aspects of Cowspiracy may be inaccurate as you claim.
I don’t know.
However the film Before the Flood also makes the connection between meat eating and climate change.
So clearly there is some consensus on this.
Let me guess, they’re comparing feedlot meat with conventional cropping. It’s a nonsense argument Paul, because it’s based on BAU and BAU is killing the planet whether we eat meat or soy. If you are now reading permaculture, you will be getting to some of this. We need polyculture food production, and many of those systems do better with livestock in them.
A ‘consensus’?
Two Vegan fanatics that are happy to lie outright, and a Hollywood actor who by his own admission just about killed the planet with his travel carbon footprint in order to make a documentary showcasing his ‘green concern’ credentials?
Is that a sufficient standard of proof for you Paul? Are you happy to accept other peoples claims on that level of proof yourself?
It ain’t for me, not by a long long shot!
What about some credible scientific consensus to back up your claims as I asked for? Find any of that?
Here you go
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/21/eat-less-meat-vegetarianism-dangerous-global-warming
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-greenhouse-hamburger/
“More than 5m premature deaths could be avoided globally by 2050 if health guidelines on meat consumption were followed, rising to more than 7m with a vegetarian diet and 8m on veganism”
And how is that going to help the carbon footprint? This is the problem with these kind of reductionist analyses. They just end up looking stupid.
Thanks Paul,
Both links take there baseline from the FAO 2006 figure ‘Emissions from livestock account for 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gases’ (More than the IPCC 2013, but lets not quibble).
So I think we now agree that ‘Cowspiracy’ is completely and utterly inaccurate in claiming 53%?
And that neither report says anything even remotely like ‘eating meat is the single most destructive thing you can do the environment’ so we can dismiss that claim of yours as completely and utterly inaccurate also.
Took a while, but we got there in the end!
Hey Paul, cattle can regenerate land, help sequester carbon, and provide food,
https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change
Thanks weka that’s a great link to read and hear. Reminds me of the efforts of Men of the Trees, which included women as well. I think that the UN have taken up the idea and some countries adopted it big time but we need to embrace it desperately now.
I wonder how soon we can start a target for each one of us to plant a tree once a year, on Arbour Day or some regional anniversary day, and have a mixed landscape not mono-pirad-culture and have some pines that produce pine seeds and so on, hard wood, trees that are resistant to fire destruction all getting a look in.
A bit of leadership and organisation from good pollies functioning well, not dysfunctional and assymetric.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/india-plants-50-million-trees-uttar-pradesh-reforestation/
Although I tend to think that less trees planted more strategically might be better, it’s still an impressive effort.
Hi weka
Another idea, using conserved water in lakes etc and at same time limiting evaporation.
Have floating mats of reeds or such, that wouldn’t leach out unfavourable or toxic substances and have vegetables growing on them in a fairly uncontrolled way, that would draw nutrients needed from the water, so no added fertilisers, and there would be a regular route through them by the farmers or custodians or kaitiaki to pluck out growths that would overwhelm the food plants chosen.
Fish would feed on the underside of them and it could have many benefits once trialled and the right methods and types chosen.
We are being more than played. The manipulations and deceptions are burying the truth and it is escalating. It will not end well.
It would seem the neoliberal establishment will stop at nothing to ensure they stay in control.
As their agenda involves ramping up tensions against China and Russia, i would agree with your conclusion about the outcome.
You think they’re in control. How quint. The American crises showed that control to be fake. Fake fake fake
They clearly are trying to control matters.
And to their misfortune the peoples of Iraq. Syria, Libya, East Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and numerous other countries are victims of the deep state and military industrial complex’s desire to control matters.
War is the absence of commen sense so that’s not a very good example
” War is the absence of common sense.” That’s dead right ,and the USA proves time and again it doesn’t have any common sense.
Garibaldi, obviously you fail to see the bigger picture of what is happening in Africa and the Middle East. The US foreign policy over many, many years has not changed.
Bomber gets it.
A deep state coup.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/01/12/the-donald-trump-fake-news-scandal-are-we-witnessing-a-deep-state-coup/
It’s very difficult not to pass your prejudice on to children Iv heard
Glenn Greenwald warns of the dangers (for the media and democracy) of accepting uncritically the alleged (and unverfied) surveillance dosier on Trump (as leaked yesterday). He calls it part of deep state warfare.
I gotta say, I’m losing respect for Greenwald.
When he starts using phrases like “Nobody should crave the rule of Deep State overlords.”, that’s an appeal to pretty base emotion and it’s a propaganda technique, not journalism.
He also way understates how much caution mainstream outlets are placing around this to further his narrative of trashing mainstream journalism.
Andre – I think you should question your faith in the Democrats .
Good points about some of the way Greenwald frames his article. It’s a point in favour of many MSM outlets that they didn’t rush to publish about unverified data.
OTOH, it does seem to me that caution is needed in accepting the dossier. It does seem to me to be part of some covert warfare. I trust neither the CIA nor Putin’s surveillance services and propaganda.
I also detest Trump and his (often contradictory) policies/agenda, but think the way to counter him is through the kinds of processes Greenwald recommends.
Thing is, Buzzfeed never said “this is all true”/. They released the full dossier after CNN reported on its existence. Not surprising people took it andf ran with it, with the inauguration looming people needed a goood laugh.
Yeah, fact-checking, independent corroboration, and looking at what someone actually does are a lot more important than the entertaining noise.
To me it’s a really interesting balance on whether to publish the 35 pages or not. That the intel agencies have briefed Obama and Trump about the allegations is a fact, and something I think should be publicly known. Given that the agencies apparently give it enough credence for it to form the basis of the brief, are we better served by seeing the raw data, or by having mysterious allegations floating around?
I’m curious whether the agencies have other independent corroboration of any of it, but we’ll probably never know since that might expose sources and methods. IMO, if the 35 pages is all they’ve got then it’s another big black mark against their credibility. OTOH, there’s enough solidly documented stuff showing links between Trump and his team and Russian interests, so I’d be surprised if the agencies didn’t have a lot of stuff that’s not public (yet).
I haven’t read all the way through those 35 pages yet. But as far as I can see so far, a lot of it is…an anonymous person talks to some people and some of them tell them that they heard that so and so said such and such.
In other words, a fair smattering of hear-say. Gossip.
A 70 year old business tycoon has contacts in Russia. Big deal.
He allegedly has some fetishes. Big deal.
And the stuff about the goings on of oligarchs might, or so I’d think, rub two ways…ie, I’d imagine US authorities would be curious about some of their activities.
The thing that bothers me is that it seems a fair chunk of the Republican Party is working in cahoots with a fair chunk of the Democratic Party and the Intelligence Agencies; that all the above are using overly compliant mainstream news outlets to swipe the legs out from under the democratically elected President of the US.
And I’m under no illusions they would have done the same if it was Sanders who was about to be President, just as over the pond, sections of the establishment are working hand in glove with one another and media outlets there to discredit Corbyn.
I get it that people enjoy reveling in ‘giving one’ to Trump. But there’s something more important going on here that deserves our attention.
If ‘the people’ were doing something that was gathering steam that might lead to a ‘take down’ of Trump, I’d be right there with them in spirit. But this is an establishment under siege seeking to re-assert itself. And my enemy’s enemy isn’t my friend – I won’t be cheering them on.
The establishment are clearly determined to either prevent Trump from becoming President or to deligitimise him.
Er, what? First, they can’t and therefore won’t prevent him from taking office, and second, nothing they could come up with to “de-legitimise” him could beat the stuff he’s come up with all on his own. Third, in what sense is a billionaire property developer with a private plane and a trophy wife not “the establishment?”
We are living in an era of fake news…
Oh, we certainly are.
This kind of fake news, mostly.
By crikey NZ tabloids are full of Agent Orange today, I’m over it and the shit spinning coming out of his mouth.
Anti establishment and anti dynasty he said in the debates, he is so full of it.
Hey, waidaminnit – how do I know you’re not a tool of the establishment and Lil Fingers is their boy all along? Why I orda…
I’m staying up in protest over media miss handling of information
Last week I had a house full of visitors, it was awesome. Anyways some of my visitors had stopped in at Kaikoura to visit family before coming up here. Family that are heavily involved in earthquake recovery and rebuilding there.
Turns out Brownlee was very arrogant when he visited, he was very angry at the public for embarrassing him in front of the media, and that’s coming from someone that attended the meeting and I was told is not a fan of the farmer that had a go at Brownlee. It’s always good to get the facts from those whom were there rather than the media spin. Doubt Brownlee will be back in Kaikoura anytime soon.
Guess that’s why they sent Mr Dildo this time, no public meeting, just a swift visit and meeting with selected local businesses.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88310224/road-access-issues-harbour-still-top-of-the-list-for-kaikoura-businesses
A cursory examination of Brownlee’s history reveals it doesn’t really take much to make him angry. He has form for getting all bent out of shape whenever anyone questions him, or disputes his statements. He’s basically an ill-tempered bully with a chip on his shoulder.
The opposition dont focus enough on the born to rule arrogance that exudes from most nat ministers in their treatment of joe public.
Best answer for them is probably to be extra-respectful all the time in their own dealings with citizens – that is, show not tell.
Treats his staff like crap in front of media too, I’ve heard. Funny how it never comes up.
An interesting read. Who wants to bet various people in government haven’t “taken out insurance” by doing things like making copies of his tax returns?
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/how-trumps-attacks-on-us-intelligence-will-come-back-to-haunt-him-214622
Just purchased a copy of Chris Trotters ‘No Left Turn’ from the discards table at Hastings Library. Nice copy, 50 cents.
Leaving one copy available between the 3 Libraries (Flaxmere, Hastings and Havelock North). All areas that, for very different reasons, could do with some political education.
WELL DONE to those responsible for the gutting of our libraries, and their fine contribution to dumbing down and keeping the population as ill informed as possible.
Specially noted is the fact that you sold off a large number of Shakespeare books on his anniversary, and gutted the politics section in the year leading up to the Elections.
How very timely.
Yup and did any hawkes bay local govt figures get a new years honour shower from shonky central ?
Well, Foss got a little reminder not to slam the door on the way out, and that’s good enough for me. Now we have the prospect of the residents of Havelock North rewarding their poisoner, the ‘humbled’ Lawrence Yule, with a position in National. Maybe.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11781033
50 shades of grey?…..or am I mixing that up with Trump?
Can’t be. Trump is 50 shades of golden.
he may end up being 50 shades of red
50 shades of yellow and red – orange?
lol….shit,its already happened
Good news, I hope.
President Barack Obama has put Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified material, on his short list for a possible commutation, a Justice Department source told NBC News.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/army-leaker-chelsea-manning-obama-s-short-list-commutation-n705441
Dear weka,
Yesterday, after I pointed out that two of my comments on the “Obama’s last speech” thread had not come through, you replied:
Could you tell me where they are?
The longer one keeps cycling back into Trash. I can’t do anything about that sorry. Here’s what it said,
In reply to Sacha.
What inspired you most, Sacha?
[1] The way he linked the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq with the brave resistance struggles of Stonewall and Selma?
[2] His irony-free condemnation of Russia while stating, with a straight face, that the U.S. is not a “country that bullies smaller neighbors”? ,
[3] Was it his canting about Islamic terrorism—which the United States supports both diplomatically and militarily in Syria—while remaining silent about Christian and Israeli terrorism?
[4] Or perhaps you were inspired by his praise of “those who marched for justice” while his henchmen pursue and traduce Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, and while Chelsea Manning rots in solitary confinement.
You could try taking out the number formatting, it looks odd in the original comment so maybe that’s why it’s going to trash. Or it could be the random bug.
I can’t remember what the shorter one was, so can’t find it. It doesn’t look like it’s in Trash, and I’m guessing from memory that it was in the same Obama’s last speech thread.
Thanks, weka, you really are a champion!
I hope you remember that next time I piss you off
Problem with the waiver or “Mad Dog” knows something?.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/mattis-hasc-cancelled-confirmation
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/leading-labours-broad-church.html
when he’s good he’s very good…..
Yeah I liked that from Chris.
I wonder when the bubble crowd will get it, just jokes. I know they never will – they will take it as personal abuse, be offended, then look for someone to blame for them being offended.
May as well be me today.
The labour party in a liberal party and voting for them is a waste of time if you are actually interested in the rights, and needs of working people.
Plus they really do need to get off there high horse and accusing people of giving up on civil rights. Civil rights is a given, we just think your kidding yourself for thinking that we can get civil rights under a liberal system.
A wage slave who thinks they are free – is a simpler slave to deal with, than a slave who knows they are under the yoke of wage slavery.
Adam
Then again slaves in other places have at times been well treated, some have been able to buy out of their servitude.
At present we are in a culture that doesn’t even want slaves, it wants to deal with people who have money which is an artificial way of gaining credits. , But it doesn’t want to buy into the economic circle of employment, earnings, spending on things from human employment.
We are all under the yoke of our basic needs, and wage slavery can be viewed as security if one has decent wages and is respected in society and can have a full life. Bob Dylan sings it – You’ve got to serve someone. The plumber and his client, the grocer and his customer, both need each other. But with the damned talent we have for trying to break the human circle and play with our cunning machines, we humans collaborate to make our race redundant and base.
Trying to justfy your bondage does not mean you are not a slave.
We may not like slavery, but as a culture we tolerate it on so many levels. Never have we had so many sex slaves, never have so many women and children been held in such open bondage.
Let you onto a secret – Being anti-authoritarian means embracing freedom.
Servering unto others by free will is human, service to others to survive, is slavery.
Adam
Let you onto a not-secret but still not admitted by many – freedom espousing people often become authoritarian.
There are no perfect approaches to living ‘right’ in human society, just a constant effort to maintain a balance, at the top end of a sliding scale, with freedom at the high end and subjugation at the other.
A state house has been unwrapped on Auckland’s waterfront, but its not for living in – its a million-dollar sculpture. Is this irony, or not ? Maybe its a memorial.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/322216/controversial-artwork-unwrapped-on-auckland-wharf
It’s not irony, it’s taunting.
+1 Most of the money for the sculpture was donated by a real estate firm.
nah its a statement to greed and stupidity.
and all the nice polite society will come and ohhh and aahhhh and get pictures taken for the gossip sites sipping champagne and wearing fancy dresses.
They should have 3 families living in it, to give it some more artistic flair
Some squatters even
How many days until the first taggers?
Michael Parekowhai, who lived in Northcote which contained a large state housing area, obviously understood the importance for a family of a place to call home. The house is a monument to a kinder era when the state understood the importance of providing housing to the people who needed it. Children could grow up in an area and complete their schooling at the local high school. Stability was valued.
In my view this Parekowhai house is also a monument of shame for this government.
Today’s precarious families are temporarily housed in motels, cars, and garages and made to feel like losers while the government flicks off the old state houses and tenants are forced to leave their communities, disrupting schooling and fracturing social links.
If the building highlights this government’s failure in social housing enough to incite voters to dump this government, then perhaps it will have fulfilled a greater purpose than that envisaged by the real estate firm donor.
+ 100% Tautoko Mango Mata. I had similar thoughts when I first viewed this sculpture, and wondered if it was also some kind of political statement (to be expected from Michael Parekowhai) .
Explains the Putin boners.
/
Ultra-conservative Russian lawmaker Yelena Mizulina is a senator in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament. She successfully campaigned for anti-LGBTQ legislature against “gay propaganda” which has made homosexual relationships and people subject to fines and punishment, and has been connected to a rise in anti-gay violence in Russia. She is now working to make domestic violence more acceptable.
The Guardian reported in August that Mizulina had introduced a new bill to the State Duma, which would decriminalize violence within families, subjecting perpetrators to fines rather than jail time. She stated at the time, “Battery carried out toward family members should be an administrative offense,” adding, “You don’t want people to be imprisoned for two years and labelled a criminal for the rest of their lives for a slap.”
http://jezebel.com/russian-parliament-passes-law-decriminalizing-domestic-1791076784
Fake news? That’s soooo yesterday. Get yourself some fake books to read on the subway.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-books-for-the-all-too-real-trump-era-crack-up-commuters_us_58764eabe4b03c8a02d4512b
I have just been reading this, – real news and important news for a change.
but hey, i guess its not Sharia Law.
” Judge O’Connor ruled that doctors can refuse to treat transgender patients and women who’ve had abortions—all in the name of “religious freedom.”
https://health.good.is/articles/ruling-denies-medical-treatment?utm_content=inf_10_81_2&utm_source=TSE&utm_medium=FB&utm_campaign=pd&tse_id=INF_ef448940d82311e6a03c354c456e1db2
Well those women and transgender people can just go to a friendlier state can’t they, and be grateful they don’t live in Syria while they’re at it.
/extreme sarcasm
i told a friend in the US today to stock up condoms, morning after pill,and so on.
She laughed and said she had closed shop a while ago. I reminded her that she had one boy and two girls in their midteens and they have not even opened shop yet.
but nevermind. i am just showing my privilege of being a first world woman.
fwiw i have run out of sarcasm and fucks.
Fair enough, and we’re just getting started with this shit
For those that don’t quite get it, women in the US are stocking up on birth control because access is expected to get harder. Transgender people who use hormones likewise, and other people who need meds for health reasons because they think they’re going to lose their health coverage.
and how does that square with hippocratic oath?
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:…
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
do they really use that?
In NZ doctors can refuse care to women who need an abortion, on moral grounds. And Chris Trotter just made the argument that identity politics are a problem because they stop MPs from being free to make decisions on moral grounds, so I guess we’re not so far removed.
https://www.nzma.org.nz/publications/code-of-ethics
is this the CT article to which you refer?https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/leading-labours-broad-church.html
yep. I saw it in your earlier comment. It has some really good stuff in it, then he throws a whole bunch of people under the bus.
curious, i saw no stated restriction on MPs nor tyre marks…..I did see however an appeal to tolerance and a dismissal of polarisation.Sound advice at any time, and particularly so now.
“So brightly did “identity politics” shine that Labour’s long-standing tradition of agreeing to disagree on issues of personal morality retreated into the shadows”
Abortion access, transgender rights, even disability rights in this day and age, all issues of personal morality. I took Trotter to be saying that MPs should be free to act on their conscience without the social and political pressure of identity politics.
The word MP or caucus is not mentioned….he is speaking of the party and the demos.
Within broadly agreed principles that serve all there is a recognition that experience, belief and views differ….or in other words, it is unrealistic to expect homogeneity in other than small groups…and politics is numbers.
Demos?
general voting public
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
“Why are you afraid of Trump?” “Because I read Octavia Butler”
“Why are you afraid of Pence?” “Because I read Margaret Atwood”
https://twitter.com/seelix/status/811005002558959617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yes!!
Don’t believe the hype. They’re paper tigers
Keep it 100
and back in NZ, own own debacle continues…..
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/85456/eqcs-unaccountable-actions-see-christchurch-woman-wrongly-accused-fraud-and-left
this from a Gov dept overseen by a Minister…..defies belief.
fuck that’s bad. End of the empire stuff.
an appalling organisation that has run roughshod over particularly the elderly and vulnerable (though not exclusively)…..and the CEO gets a bonus and a nice new job and the Minister remains at head and unrepentant.
“EQC suggested she make a complaint to the Ombudsman as a last resort. But Mrs Jones has lost all faith in the system.
How many people have been wrongfully accused of serious criminal offending by a Government organisation that is supposed to step up and help people in a time of need? ”
Damn them for their ‘kick them when they’re down’ culture.
Thanks Pat for bringing this to our attention. Clearly some outfit had a contract with EQC to assess for eligibility and install the heat pumps and were way too quick off the mark… maybe to jump start their revenue stream?
Was this heat pump thing some sort of ‘aren’t we being so nice to the poor folks of Christchurch’ PR exercise?
I’d be more cynical than that and guess it was how do we tick off this quota on our job sheet exercise, while spending the least amount of time on it.
‘Was this heat pump thing some sort of ‘aren’t we being so nice to the poor folks of Christchurch’ PR exercise?”
It was painted as that at one stage…..however this particular incident and heat pumps in general are but a microcosm of the whole EQC experience for thousands…..the advice to refer to the Ombudsman is farcical (as the aggrieved party probably well knew) as those that appealed to the Ombudsman were not served at all and the office themselves stated no ability or desire to rule with regard EQC.
“…but a microcosm of the whole EQC experience for thousands…..the advice to refer to the Ombudsman is farcical…”
We were travelling in the SI in February 2011, and again in 2013, and spoke with hundreds of people affected by the ‘quakes. Many we have spent time with literally fled Christchurch, never to return, such was the trauma not only of the big ‘quakes but the thousands of aftershocks.
Without fail, all have had negative experiences with EQC and their contractors.
For most of these people, having to apply to EQC for compensation for damage to their homes was the first time they had ever had to go cap in hand to a government agency to get the assistance they believed they had paid for via levies and taxes.
Extremely sobering process, and it was not only the sense of betrayal they felt at how they were treated, but absolute shock that fellow Kiwis, employed by this Government agency, could do their work with seemingly cheerful disregard at the devastating effects on the lives of these citizen users.
And accounts such as this indicates a level of almost sociopathic dedication to their appointed tasks.
The other day Bomber Bradbury, in an article endeavoring to instruct Gareth Morgan on how to create a better ‘anti-establishment’ party, made an interesting statement…
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/01/09/tdb-summer-election-special-is-top-real-or-a-gareth-morgan-vanity-project/
“Labour can’t criticise what those Government Departments do to the poorest and weakest members of society because they are beholden to the PSA…”
And when I think about it…has Labour actually kicked up the appropriate amount of shit when stories like this make it into the light of day?
Because if any one incident over the past 8 years of this mob’s rule has galvanised the general public into criticism of government departments it is how EQC shat all over the Canterbury claimants.
Don’t think being beholden to the PSA was the issue…..many of EQCs employees were contractors and were unlikely to be members. Labours lack of advocacy was noted and grates with many, though a couple of MPs did extremely helpful work, but at an individual case level (still believe time will show a grand coalition immediately after the second quake)…..like WINZ the culture is driven from above.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6584422/Review-of-nepotism-at-EQC-had-gaps
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/71891130/daughter-of-eqc-executive-being-investigated-again
“…like WINZ the culture is driven from above.”
Hmmm….my thoughts are tending in the direction of comparing this situation with what happened with the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services and the Carer Support Subsidy.
(http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/disability-services/types-disability-support/respite-and-carer-support/carer-support)
MOH:DSS, almost immediately upon its inception in about 2000, contracted out almost every aspect of support for disabled Kiwis who are not under ACC, including the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination service…through which those with disabilities have to traverse in order to access any funding for supports.
Because of the overriding emphasis placed on only funding ‘unmet needs’ and hugely emphasising the requirement for only funding what family won’t or can’t do, many families living with disability found that the only government funded support available was CSS…which because of the punitive restrictions around who can be paid for what and the fact it is funded at $3 per hour (already financially struggling families simply cannot afford to make up the shortfall to meet minimum wage) those of us who were allocated Carer Support days found them very difficult to utilise if we kept strictly within the rules.
I was allocated 110 days in late 2002 after having tried and failed to find ‘formal’ care for my man so I could address a health issue. This large allocation was made by the NASC (who assesses and coordinates services under contract for the MOH DSS) and because of the large allocation was approved by MOH head office.
When I phoned our NASC (remember, a contracted provider for the MOH) and said this didn’t solve the problem (of needing carers) and was not enough to actually pay for care through a provider, I was told by the NASC to be “creative” with the funding.
The last thing anyone can accuse me of is creativity, so I was not caught up in the pogrom instituted by the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services in 2010 and 2012 against disabled people and their chosen family carers committing Carer Support fraud.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/3418235/Care-support-fraud-hits-1-million
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10807955
(Those with a decent memory will remember that publicity around these pogroms coincided with the Human Rights Tribunal decision saying the family carers should be paid a wage in January 2010 and the Appeal Court decision upholding the HRRT decision in May 2012)
And ironically, there was little if any acknowledgement that the hundreds of family carers who were getting paid (in breach of the discriminatory policy) were being paid under ‘arrangements’ facilitated by the contracted providers…who were never publicly investigated for this.
At no time was there any public acknowledgement that Carer Support funding was only allocated after an assessment by a MOH contracted provider…who was also charged with ensuring that the allocatee was appraised of and followed the rules for use.
At no stage was there any public acknowledgement that NASCs were instructing disabled people and their family carers on how to “be creative” in order to access this very limited and inflexible support funding….and hence placing these families at risk of prosecution.
(Bear in mind, that CSS is allocated on a kind of pro rata basis…so many days CSS for so many hours per week of unpaid care…in my case…the $8200 per year CSS was instead of the MOH funding $80,000 for ‘formal’ care. )
“You can’t arrest me, I’m white”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/jeff-sessions-confirmation-hearing-kkk-protesters
Pricks can’t help themselves.
But as civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, Congressional Black Caucus head Rep. Cedric Richmond and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker testified that Sessions’ confirmation to head the Department of Justice would set back the cause for universal civil rights, only one Republican on the committee remained to listen.
“I want to express my concerns about being made to testify at the very end of the witness panels,” Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond said to applause from members of the Congressional Black Caucus seated behind him in the Russell Senate building. “To have a senator, a House member and a living civil rights legend testify at the end of all of this is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus.”
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/11/watch-congressional-black-caucus-says-jeff-sessions-confirmation-will-set-back-the-cause-of-universal-civil-rights/
They’re emboldened right? More and more I am thinking about how we need to address that here in NZ. Different scale and dynamics but still there.