RNZ this morning govts books the envy of every other country in the world.With a Conservative growth rate of 2 1/2 % and the lowest debt rate of any country with supply constraints stopping a better result
Bridges and luxon bald face liars saying the govt can't manage the economy ,barking at cars again.
yep, whenever my nat-supporting mates pipe up about labour being useless economically I always point out to them that the evidence is otherwise. They always go silent (because they have never considered any evidence, only listened to the myth).
As a business owner I prefer left governments because the economy always improves and I get more sales. I said to said mates the same would happen when this government got in, and it has.
Conservatives on the other hand always act conservatively and the economy shrinks back from its natural tendency courtesy of that conservatism.
Most of my mates haven't even considered that the nats are the conservatives. They go silent on this again.
So many people don't even think about this stuff.. they just repeat the lines they hear…
National – conservatives and with a record of poorly economic outcome.
Labour – forward-stepping and with a record of superior economic outcome
this is the evidence
it needs shouting to the rooftops – like, really shouting
Progressives grow opportunities through better fiscal management and money supply, which though it does increase inflation also leads to a better tax take and "money go round". People are employed and contributing, so social and environmental concerns start getting addressed.
Conservatives shrink it all through austerity. That means less tax to do any social or environmental work. Unemployment grows though conservatives become Nelson like looking with their "blind eye" at problems, which becomes "what problems?'
Victoria University Professor of Strategic Studies Robert Ayson:
While the Assessment begins with climate change and strategic competition as the top two problem generators, it's the second of these which does most of the work. And "strategic competition" is a euphemism. A one sentence summary of the 36-page public version of the Assessment could easily read: China is threatening New Zealand's interests in the South Pacific.
That means continuity and change in comparison to the 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement of Ardern's first term which also raised a series of concerns about China's behaviour, but focused more specifically on what Beijing was doing in the South China Sea. The first major defence policy publication of the second term brings the strategic competition into New Zealand's immediate region.
Officials want Cabinet Ministers and commentators to stop treating what goes on in the wider region (now commonly called the Indo-Pacific) as a species of intense strategic competition that is seldom encountered in the Pacific. That means some of the NZDF's future operations in the immediate region will not be so different to deployments to conflict zones further afield: "This binary is now being eroded," the writers of the 2021 Assessment argue, "and Defence operations within New Zealand's immediate neighbourhood will increasingly require the use of more sophisticated military capabilities in support of regional partners."
He doesn't explain what these sophisticated military capabilities are, nor even mention whether or not they are available for using. Typical academic!
if Labour Ministers nonetheless want New Zealand to play a leading defence role in the Pacific, they will want to improve on the tepid and publicity shy response to the latest Solomon Islands crisis.
But will they?? Could be the govt's refusal to interpret the crisis to our public is due to perception that it would not be in the interests of the Solomons to do so. And belief that folks here ain't all that interested in the Solomons anyway. Lay low, say nuffin is a traditional strategy (http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-wonderful-tar-baby-story.html) which Labour is prudently deploying.
America is extremely jealous of China's rising influence.
China has the will and the resources to challenge U.S dominance in technology science,and engineering.
Who else can compete against the U.S behemoths like the FAANG's.
Companies like Huawei,Ali Baba,Tiktok,Weibo etc…can.
The belt and road initiative and the scale of China's soft loans from the Pacific to Africa are a source of discontent for the Hawks in the U.S.
A campaign ,almost a Cold War, to try and demonise and isolate China is in play.
The usual vassals line up to support the U.S.
Australia ,the americans BFF is taking a prominent role in criticising Chinese actions in the Sth China Sea.
The propaganda machine highlights the tennis star controvosy ,the designs of China on Taiwan, Chinas increasing military resources,and the defaults of chinese developers.
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
With Afghanistan another flop on the record,the military/industrial interests are onto another moneymaker.
How easy is it to win over the hearts and minds of the chattering class.
All the above is true, certainly, but Chinese officials are now also adopting a much more publicly muscular tone in demanding that critics shut up or they will face PRC retaliatory measures.
We need to steer a very careful course, being so dependent on them economically.
So far our Government has managed to tread softly around the belligerence between the US and China. The US certainly hasn't done us any favours in the trade area.
Astonishing how you managed to get almost everything wrong on that little rant. But just two will do:
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
In reality the US is re-industrialising at a rapid pace, and supply chains are pulling out from a PRC now widely regarded as unreliable as fast as they possibly can.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
Laughable. Russia has shrunk to a GDP a little larger than Australia and NZ combined and it's population is shrinking even faster. (Recent data suggests it could be even worse than shown there.)
Old assumptions about how the world works are crumbling because the US is now defining it's interests on a far more transactional basis than it did in the past. On current trends there will soon be no US boots on the ground anywhere in the world – short of that needed to man their network of bases and alliances they choose to maintain. Already Putin calculates that if he invades Ukraine the US will not intervene, and the Middle East is on it's own.
But if you imagine that any of this will make the world safe for Communism I suspect you're in for a disappointment.
You had your opportunity to make a substantive reply and you had nothing.
All it will say is that the US like all great powers can be very ruthless. I’ve pointed this out many times before. But that does not makes it’s opponents lilly-white – as you obviously pretend they are.
Quite right Blazer, but trying to get through to the red neck of logic is useless, his imbedded faith will not allow him to see anything good in anything that mentions communism.
Well given the US has been embarrassed in every conflict since the Vietnam War I think the cartoon is appropriate.
China is developing its technology at a much faster rate than the US.
Also manufacturing capability wins wars China has a much larger capability.especially in modern technology hence Biden spending billions on chip manufacturing capability so the US is not reliant on 84% imports mostly from China.
From China? Are you sure? Taiwan's coming up in google as the world's largest computer chip manufacturer:
Taiwan is the country that produces the most number of chips globally, thanks to TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which controls 51% of the global chip market.
I think we gave up on good political satire a while back which is why John Clarke left these shores. Even without him, Aus still does good satire. Heres Australia's Defence Policy Explained. It could be that though Scotty hasn't got the memo, Ardern has seen it and is acting on it by doing a Brer fox even though shes not responsible for the tar baby and is unlikely to roll on the ground laughing
Yep….Juice Media, The Chaser, The Shovel…all good Aussie political satire. haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard, though (not suggesting that most of posters here are satirical!).
Try discord heaps of hard out commentary. Your right about the sledging, but it's fun.
My fav of the last couple of weeks, reminding the Aussies of all the crying into the camera of late on losing the captaincy. Or more bluntly, if you wanna send dick pix you get whats coming to ya.
Matt McCarten has written a One Union Letter to the Speaker:
Kia Ora Trevor,
Rafael Gonzalez-Montero We have tried to resolve this matter confidentially for months. I don’t know what’s wrong with Rafael… two young staffers got shafted after he promised he would protect them. Rafael has never contested the facts.
We offered him a confidential mediation that would be binding on everyone, so we can all move on. It was simple, fair and easy. But his lawyer got in his ear and he refused. I guess lawyers don’t get paid if we settle matters.
As you can appreciate this is a matter that we have to pursue. The victim and the witness were treated abysmally by Rafael. I don’t think it was deliberate. Just careless and incompetent. Frankly I don’t know what’s worse… From the very beginning, when I first wrote to Rafael in August, he won’t answer any questions.
But Matt, why would you expect a public service manager to take responsibility for their misbehaviour?? They know the privilege system protects them.
Also tell Michael Quigg writing me threatening letters doesn’t work and is counterproductive. Bullying this worker and me kind of reinforces our argument that parliament is a bully’s cesspool.
Bullying works better if you use a lawyer to do it too rather than just diy. Rafael must realise that one tough guy ain't enough to victimise his employees. He needs to ramp things up into some kind of public shit-fight. High Noon would be good.
Matt asks Mallard to help resolve things instead:
your people caused this injustice and refuse to take responsibility. Now I have to do their bloody job. Fucking hopeless.
Parliamentary Services may not be hopeless. Wouldn't surprise me if a few of them are hoping for a change. Can the duck quack loudly enough?
Looks like Matt's making a start on his threat in a podcast earlier this week to publicly expose the bullies in Parliament. (I posted a link a day or two ago.)
He went on at some length about the tactic of employers and MPs sending lawyers letters to shut complainants up because they can't afford to litigate.
If he gets no joy from Speaker Trev, maybe we can expect him to start naming names?
He said in his podcast that bullying of powerless Parliamentary Services staff by certain MPs has been rampant for decades and he's going to do something about it.
For decades whoever is in government fails to grasp that it is usually the cover up which is worse than the original mistreatment of the person. The process to get the grievance exposed requires the person making the complaint to have the resources and all the documentation so the issue does not drag on for months, years or decades.
I have followed the plight of the children/youth who had their lives ripped apart when in so called welfare, religious or psychiatric care. I am pleased that what happened has been exposed.
Crown Law was the biggest obstacle due to having an endless supply of money, delay tactics, with holding information to squash children and youth. There are still historical cases involving the government which need addressing.
Thanks for posting. She did a lot of work on intersectionalism, and I'd come across a couple of clips recently of her talking to Laverne Cox, which may be of interest.
So, I searched and found the full discussion (haven't watched).
There's a series with bell hooks talking to others, one with Gloria Steinem, so I'll post links tp both. I'm sure that if people are interested they can find the rest.
One of Wokedom's leading dogmatists … has much to answer for.
Along with Crenshaw & a handful of others, she applied uber-relativist 1960s French Post-Modernism, divorced from truth & reality, to a crude, radical Identity Politics, seeking to destroy the main precepts of both Social Democracy and, more broadly, Liberal Democracy.
Subsequently adopted by a bloated financially-privileged narcissistic White ID Politics Cadre … then increasingly imposed on Society.
Philosophers, writers, artists, commentators etc all contribute to the public discourse by writing or articulating their perspective.
It doesn't mean we have to accept all, or indeed any, of their views. And we also have to be aware that sometimes those views can be mispresented by others.
There are many examples of bell hooks taking time to explain, or willing to be contested on her approach.
I think that is exactly the kind of robust debate we should be aiming for.
How many times does this make it that offenders have stolen police cars in the last couple of years? Do they leave the keys in the ignition – or do modern day electronic start ignitions make it easier for anybody to get in, start one up & drive away in it?
He had gone before Muller was leader. The leaks continued. Then Collins was leader. The leaks increased.
There should be a leak-lull now, at least until the New Year. Then Luxon has to make some decisions, dump some policies, and the tap will be turned back on.
I have no idea why you’d think that. Probably just an offhand idiotic comment that takes absolutely no cognisance of history. It is your usual comment style.
Offhand, I can only think of one journo (and that is a stretch because he was more of a presenter) becoming a MP for Labour. That is over the 4 decades I have been looking at Labour. That was Tamati Coffey. But he was really the exception.
There have been a few in National. One of the Smiths comes to mind. But that was decades ago.
Mostly people out of the journo and media world get involved in national politics by either training politicians to not look like fools in front of the camera, work on politicians staffs as press flacks, or on retirement go to become local body politicians.
Kris Faafoi was a broadcaster and journalist before becoming Phil Goff's press secretary and then MP in 2010. Still, only 2 in however long doesn’t suggest Labour as a natural home for journalists.
Essentially then, another reasoned proposition alongside the observed reality, as to why there will be no huge spike in hospital admissions and/or deaths in the UK, US and Europe. And yet politicians and supposed public health officials there are playing their fear cards again, and legacy media are running with what they're told to run with again and banging on about lock-downs and third injections and the sky falling in.
Is NZ going to cut the nonsense, dump the discriminatory traffic light and mandate bullshit and open the international border?
No. Like the Russia Hoax, the Covid narrative will run…and run…and run.
In terms of public health response, governments have dug a hole for themselves with the "fear monkey" messaging of the past few years.
But since the primary incentive for government actions has been political, and since the political objectives required that a particular health narrative was spun and then bolstered – they're stuck. Or rather, we're going to continue being pushed down a particular track unless or until we reject the "fear monkey" narrative that's driving levels of compliance across society that we're all going to come to regret.
Notice, that in stark contrast to the head of the South African Medical Association who has been reporting Omicron is mild infection, the line from Professor Shabir Madhi (a vaccinologist) …is that Omicron probably isn't less severe than Delta and that milder disease is only down to the effects of previous infection and vaccines.
I'm thinking that's questionable, because if that's the case, then why wasn't a similar pattern of decreasing hospitalisations and deaths observed in the case of Delta infections/re-infections?
Maybe the Professor Shabir Madhi has skin in the game?
A(nother) talk about “the end of the pandemic“! If "it's over" then it's about time, imho.
Mind you, the number of current COVID-19 patients has never been higher, having just passed 22,000,000, while the number people dying daily from COVID chugs along at a remarkably stable and tragic 7,000, give or take.
It's interesting that, for all our scientific understanding and technical progress, here we have someone with a PhD in engineering who is suggesting that relying on Homo sapiens' immune systems is at least as good as, if not a better bet than relying on medical interventions to save lives during this pandemic.
We have been around for millions of years, and, ah, we should have respect for our immune systems – it didn't come out of nowhere, ah, y-you know, and we have been through many pandemics in the past before.
So sure, modern technology could potentially ss-save, save lives, but you know the slogan that the vaccine is the only way out of it, is is not correct – you know, how did we get through it before modern medicine. Ah, and yeah, so this is a natural course and we have evolved as a species to beat viruses in this way.
No doubt that's correct – 'we' could indeed survive the current pandemic "as a species" without recourse to modern medicine. Once this pandemic is over, our scientific and medical communities will be in a better position to evaluate how many lives were saved by vaccinating against Covid-19, and whether there were better options (maybe they will even be able to learn a thing or two from little old NZ). For example, maybe 'we' could have designed a more transmissible and less virulent variant and deliberately seeded it globally. But be careful what you wish for…
“The hope is, that if the pandemic doesn’t go away, we will get new variants that are highly contagious but don’t produce much of a clinical illness,” said Armitage.
And between those mutations, less virulent strains, natural immunity, and vaccine-induced immunity, we’ll eventually get out of this.
Whether that is with Omicron or new variants we have yet to meet remains unclear.
“We’d all like it to be sooner rather than later, of course,” Armitage said.
"A crowd of hundreds has amassed at Wellington’s Civic Square ahead of a protest organised by Brian Tamaki’s Freedom & Rights Coalition in central Wellington today.
Tamaki estimated up to 50,000 people would be at the protest but those there believe the number was closer to 1000 by 10.50am at Civic Square, when Parliament grounds remained virtually empty."
In May 2019 at the announcement about the formation of the Coalition New Zealand Party (changed to Vision New Zealand) Tamaki promised the party would be a "vehicle" for the "silent majority" to express their beliefs.
"Our Kiwi way of life is in danger, our freedom, our values, our cultures, as a people, as we knew it, as New Zealanders living here, has been in danger because of the harmful policies that have been coming from this Government," he told reporters.
He said he had yet to decide if he will stand for a seat but would support his wife leading a party that he said would reflect "politics with teeth".
It's exactly the same stuff he's been saying in recent months. instead of the little sprint they had to the election last time, he's on the long run up.
In 2020 out of 2,886,420 votes cast they got 4,237. It's likely they'll double their vote in 2023. To get a list seat? He'll have to
Will he stand as a candidate? No. Why? Because he couldn't stand to be seen as a loser. "In 2004, Tamaki predicted the Destiny Church would be "ruling the nation" before its tenth anniversary in 2008." (wiki)
The funniest thing about this is the organisers genuinely believed that MPs would be in the House today, made their plans weeks ago, and their followers simply followed without questioning (or even Googling).
That suggests Labour are so principled that they're willing to turn criminals into MPs in their own party. However it is tradition that one swallow don't make a summer.
To establish a tradition of rehabilitating criminals in this manner, they need more than one. A sequence would suffice.
To make this happen, Labour ought to organise a team of recruiters to hang out with the gangs on checkpoints this summer. An ideal opportunity!
I am reading John A. Lee's Simple On A Soapbox. Labour have just been re-elected in 1938. Savage, Nash and Fraser are being criticised for objecting to social policies.
The Old Man (Savage), resisted increasing the super and lowering the age from 65 to 60. Ironically he was hailed and received the credit for doing so from the adulating crowds.
Of course, this is just Lee's reckons. He has a lovely turn of phrase. He describes Nash (finance minister), as 'a codlin moth that would starve if it didn't own the apple it was on.'
The only things that stops people being a candidate are being a Returning Officer or on the Electoral Commission, not being a citizen or being disqualified as a voter. Criminal convictions only affect that if they are for corrupt practices as defined by the Electoral Act.
An MP is automatically removed as an MP if they are convicted of an offence with a possible sentence of at least 2 years' imprisonment, but if they are not an MP at the time, it does not disqualify them from standing. Likewise someone in prison for more than 3 years can't stand while they are in prison as they can't be registered to vote either, but once they are out, are free to stand (if they can find people willing to nominate them).
The patent application, for “Drone Implemented Border Patrol,” states: “If a person is detected, an onboard facial recognition algorithm will attempt to identify the person. … In one embodiment, the facial recognition algorithm works by comparing captured facial features with the U.S. Department of State’s facial recognition database.”
The patent specifies that the onboard stun gun is a Taser X26, a powerful, discontinued electroshock weapon associated with “higher cardiac risk than other models,” according to a 2017 Reuters investigation. But a stun gun was only one of many possible options. Other potential anti-migrant armaments described in the patent include pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, rubber buckshot, plastic bullets, beanbag rounds, sponge grenades, an “electromagnetic weapon, laser weapon, microwave weapon, particle beam weapon, sonic weapon and/or plasma weapon,” along with “a sonic approach to incapacitate a target.”
Obviously the migrants will have to wear Trump masks in future. You can imagine the border guards watching the screens: "Hey, there goes Trump again! Boy, whatta dude! Sure does get around."
According to the police summary of facts, Kalinowski’s corrupt business practices resulted in at least 180 incidents of people being illegitimately issued various classes of motorcycle licences.
“None of these people sat the required practical assessment to show they have the necessary skills to safely operate a motorcycle and interact with other road users,” the summary said.
The offending began in 2018 and increased “exponentially” from 2020 until he was arrested in June 2021.
Police said Kalinowski made more than $50,000 from his corruption. Most of his customers were gang members of established organised criminal groups including the Hells Angels, King Cobras, Mongrel Mob, Head Hunters and Black Power.
I wonder how many of these gang bikies the police are stopping to check their licences now?
When we look at dishonesty in our society, do we look past the bikers to the people using forged vaccination certificates? And then beyond that to those without current vehicle registrations? And then to the drug users, the scammers, the letter box pilferers? And then beyond them to those collecting benefits etc unentitledly?
Do we look at the speedsters, the drunk drivers?
Then do we look at those rorting the taxation system?
And then do we ask, how many of us are there left?
In 2020, 34 percent of Republicans and independents who lean to the right surveyed by Pew Research Center agreed that it was "probably" or "definitely true" that powerful people intentionally planned the COVID-19 outbreak. Eighteen percent of Democrats and left-leaners agreed, too.
Jung once wrote that the demise of society wouldn't be a physical threat, but instead mass delusion — a collective psychosis of sorts… Indeed, Jung himself warned that modern society was prone to collapse due to a pandemic of "delusional ideas."
"Greater than all physical dangers are the tremendous effects of delusional ideas, which are yet denied all reality by our world-blinded consciousness," Jung wrote. "Our much vaunted reason and our boundlessly overestimated will are sometimes utterly powerless in the face of 'unreal' thoughts." Notably, Jung believed that the United States was particularly prone to society-breaking delusions.
National identity is primarily based on the nation state, but there's always a substantial component of mythos which folks share. Symbolism & icons are often a focus for that. Origin myths are the most potent form. Any collective belief can become an element of mythos when it percolates down the generations.
Cultural theorists often describe the history of human civilization as one of a transition between different central guiding myths. In the Western world, Christianity undergirded everyday existence and society for over a thousand years. After the Renaissance, the central guiding myth became a belief in rationalism; then, in modernity, a belief that technology might improve the lot of all humans.
Though the phrase is often reviled, the postmodern era — which, roughly, began in the 1960s or 1970s depending on who you ask — merely means the cultural transition into an epoch into which there were no longer any fundamental guiding myths that unified human societies and drove progress. Such an era is, by its nature, more fractured socially; two humans plucked at random from a postmodern epoch might find themselves believing wildly different things about human society, progress and morality, with little in common.
Competing groups with different belief systems may seem nothing new, but if the overall US social matrix is disintegrating the competition becoming shrill and incoherent could be an indicator of the onset of mass psychosis as pandemic…
The first electric ferry in the southern hemisphere is soon to hit the seas in Wellington. Ika Rere – it means 'flying fish' – will join the East by West ferry fleet, as part of the return service from Wellington to Eastbourne.
East by West managing director Jeremy Ward decided to bring electric passenger ferries to New Zealand after seeing them in action in fiords of Norway.
Not only did the pair bring the electric ferry to Wellington, they've helped bring boat building back to the capital – 20 years after it fizzled out, and they hope to keep building electric ferries from their Lower Hutt base.
Excellent! Seems like proven tech so no teething problems or design-tweaking.
The batteries take a couple of hours to charge, Foote says. There is a charger in Eastbourne and one will be built at Queens Wharf.
They have devised a system to keep the batteries cool and operating optimally on board, he says, and there is no diesel backup on board. “If there is a problem with one side of the boat, there's a computer system that enables us to shut the boat down safely on one side. So, being a catamaran with two propellers, all you do is just go to the shore using one propeller. “
“A normal diesel boat will do about 15,000 to 20,000 hours before you have to do a major rebuild on the motor, our boat does 50,000 hours and you change one bearing and there's nothing more to do".
Great that they’ve set up a boat building company as well. There are a few car ferries up North (eg Russell, The Hokianga harbour) that might be interested.
special facilities to manage feedlot stock management from runoff etc
and
and
Our country is rife with 'farmers' squeezing productivity out of country that is not designed for it – like someone trying to fit into shoes that are too small.
Crikey corruption watch from across the ditch. Murdoch family insider gets to chair the ACCC for 5 years.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was lachlans lawyer, director of Murdoch's family trust so she now gets to hold sway over transactions that impact Murdoch's tv, newspaper and real estate websites.
She could be great, samuels was despite initial concerns but crikey those optics aren't good.
Leaders hold virtual summit as Putin declares Russia-China relations ‘a proper example of interstate cooperation’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have held a video meeting, as friction persists in both countries’ relations with the West.
In their opening remarks at the virtual summit on Wednesday, Putin and Xi hailed relations between Russia and China, with the Russian leader declaring them “a proper example of interstate cooperation in the 21st century”.
“A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based among other things on such principles as not interfering in internal affairs [of each other], respect for each other’s interests, determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said.
Xi said that the Russian president “strongly supported China’s efforts to protect key national interests and firmly opposed attempts to drive a wedge between our countries.”
It’s a difficult issue for the West, this thing China & Russia have about not criticising each other – or other countries – over what they say are solely their own internal affairs. The major western powers – & NZ – will criticise their internal policies or actions.
But the US & we all seem to be strangely silent about some repressive countries like, say, Saudi Arabia. Double standards are the pits. They cut you off from the moral high ground at the knees.
Our silence has emboldened these scoundrels who, now they are partners in crime, propose to seize weak adjacent territories whose citizens would vote that they not do so.
Interesting factoid: The Taliban announced that one of the IS suicide bombers that killed many people in Kabul notblong after they took over was a Uyghur.
The PRC of course claim the measures they have taken in Xinjiang province are to deal with a significant terrorism problem.
It's a tricky matter – but the Russians killed about half the population of Chechenya, and dislocated many of the survivors to Ingushetia. Should these people become pacifists then? It will be hard to persuade the rising generation of young men of that. I expect some similar logic applies to the Uyghurs, though the creation of the Mujahideen complicates such calculations.
Military coups may in some instances be justified – though Thailand and Fiji are very different instances. NZ did not choose wisely in respect of Fiji, in part due to the murders.
But, voting, the democratic mandate, is a vehicle by which regimes can claim a degree of legitimacy.
Where's Burma? You mean Myanmar? The country that had a circus of foreign puppets as a government? The country where the military, who constituted around 50% of the legitimate government called time on the farce of foreign control?
You do know that a swathe of SE Asia is being heavily messed with by the US in ways that are on an entirely different plain to anything that Russia was meant to be engaged in with the whole Russia Hoax stuff, right?
The ludicrous farce of Trump somehow being a Russian puppet was the reality (with receipts) for Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi (and her inner circle) of Washington puppets.
And yet somehow, all the people who frothed over Trump/Putin reckon it's not legitimate for a country to claim itself back from foreign control? pfft
The coup and the Rohinga genocide are not the same thing. Separate crimes requiring separate defenses.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Communist and former communist states are particularly sensitive to the propaganda effect of some kinds of official responses. Had NZ denounced either event, the dodgy regimes concerned would have been mightily miffed. Other civilised countries would have given the matter more thought, and some of the more enlightened ones would likely have added their voices.
You did not say cultural genocide, you said genocide.
That said, watering down the definition of genocide is a road I don't want to walk down. It really does undercut what happened in the Armenian, Safo, Romani, East Timor, Rwandan, Bosnian, Jewish, and Cambodian genocides.
So I'm not buying into the media saying there is a genocide happening to the the Uygur. First of all, no bodies and secondly where is the proof that their culture is being crushed? Your link was rather lite on any proof, a lot of emotional manipulation and supposition, sure, but cold hard proof, not really. It's why I called you on the dead bodies, and the cop out of cultural genocide is a weak response at best.
Yeah – you didn't really read the links. Scepticism is fine, uninformed scepticism not so much.
intent to "destroy in whole or in part" a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. "All five criteria of genocide are evidenced as taking place in Xinjiang," she said. Ms Ghani said detainees were subject to "brutal torture methods, including beatings with metal prods, electric shocks and whips".
From the UK declaration on the Uyghur genocide in my link.
Love the quote you published to prove my point. Low on facts, heavy on emotional manipulation and way off the mark where genocide is concerned. It's like screw all the people in the past who were murdered as part of a actually genocide, we have propaganda we want to spin.
As it's not going to sink in with you, lets just stop ah.
There is not and never was a Uygur genocide, neither actual nor cultural.
There was a separatist movement slaughtering people (including Muslims) in Xinjjang, who were jihadists sunk in the ideology of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism.
They fucked off to chop heads in Syria. They are still there. And also in Afghanistan.
And they're funded and promoted by the the US State Department through their National Endowment for Democracy.
You want to see genocide in Xinjiang? Then wait for the day they ever manage to re-enter the region. Chances are they wont be able to for two reasons. Firstly, the Chinese government invested in a shitload of economic development and infrastructure in the region and secondly, they put in place a surveillance framework that essentially means they know if you so much as scratch your arse.
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
When Grant Robertson talks about how the economy might change post-covid, one of the things he talks about is what he calls an unsung but interesting white paper on science. “It’s really important,” he says. The Minister in charge of the White Paper — Te Ara Paerangi, Future Pathways ...
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
I n some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. As Friday evening became night, Mayor Collins seemed to be everywhere: talking with ...
They called it an “atmospheric river”, the weather bombardment which hit NZ’s northern region at the weekend. It exacted a terrible toll on metropolitan Auckland and the rest of the region. Few living there may have noted a statement from electricity generator Mercury Energy labelled “WET, WET, WET!” This was ...
I know, that is a pretty corny title but given the circumstances here in the Auckland region, I just had to say it. The more oblique reference embedded in the title is to the leadership failures exhibited by Mayor Wayne Brown and his so-called leadership team when confronted by the ...
How much confidence should the public have in authorities managing natural disasters? Not much, judging by the farcical way in which the civil defence emergence in Auckland has played out. The way authorities dealt with Auckland’s extreme weather on Friday illustrated how hit-and-miss our civil defence emergency system is. In ...
Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The recent leadership change in the governing Labour party resulted in a very strange response from National’s (current) leader, Christopher Luxon. Mr Luxon berated Labour for it’s change of leader, citing no actual change.As ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 22, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 28, 2023. Story of the Week New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing LaterClimate change is affecting the timing of both ...
Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.It was another ‘SHOCK! HORROR!’ headline from a media increasingly venturing into tabloid-style journalism:Andrea Vance’s article seemed to focus on the "million dollar sums from the Government as the country grapples with a housing ...
Dr Brian Easton writes: It’s the summer break. Everyone settles down with family, books, the sun and some fishing. But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through. I haven’t seen them. Here is my guess at some ...
What Was the Prime Minister Reading in the Runup to Election Year?It’s the summer break. Everyone settles down with family, books, the sun and some fishing. But the Prime Minister has a pile of briefing papers prepared just before Christmas, which have to be worked through. I haven’t seen them. ...
In case you hadn't noticed, FYI, the public OIA request site, has been used to conduct a significant excavation into New Zealand's intelligence agencies, with requests made for assorted policies and procedures. Yesterday in response to one of these requests the GCSB released its policy on New Zealand Purpose and ...
Farming leaders are watching closely whether Damien O’Connor keeps the key portfolios of Agriculture and Trade when Prime Minister Chris Hipkins restructures his Cabinet. O’Connor has been one of the few ministers during Labour’s term in office who has won broad support for what he has done ...
South Islands farmers are whining about another drought, the third in three years. If only we knew what was causing this! If only someone had warned them that they faced a drying climate! But we do know what is causing it: climate change. And they have been warned, repeatedly, for ...
Ok, there’s good news and bad news in this week’s inflation figures, but bad > good. Our inflation rate held steady but hey, at a level below the inflation rate in Australia. The main reason for the so/so result here? A fall in petrol prices of 7.2% offset the really ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: Since her shock resignation announcement, Jacinda Ardern has been at pains to point out that she isn’t leaving because of the toxicity directed at her on social media and elsewhere, rebutting journalists who suggested misogyny and hate may have driven her from office. Yet ...
Since her shock resignation announcement, Jacinda Ardern has been at pains to point out that she isn’t leaving because of the toxicity directed at her on social media and elsewhere, rebutting journalists who suggested misogyny and hate may have driven her from office. Yet there have been dozens of columns ...
The Clinical Magus: Of particular relevance to New Zealanders struggling to come to terms with the sudden departure of their prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is Jung’s concept of the anima. Much more than what others have called the feminine principle, the anima is what the human male has made out ...
The Select Committee, considering the proposed RNZ-TVNZ merger, has come back with a report conceding many of the criticisms that were made of the original legislation. In what is one of the most comprehensive demolitions of a Bill submitted to a Select Committee, the Economic Development, Science and Innovation ...
Such are the 2020s, the age when no-one, it seems, actually respects the basic underpinnings of democracy. Even in New Zealand. This week, I stumbled across a pair of lengthy and genuinely serious articles, that basically argue that Something is Rotten in the state of New Zealand democracy. One ...
Buzz from the Beehive Hurrah. Today we found something fresh on the Beehive website, Beehive.govt.nz, which claims to be the best place to find Government initiatives, policies and Ministerial information. It wasn’t from Finance Minister Grant Robertson, whose reaction to the latest inflation figures would have been appreciated. So, too, ...
Smiling And Waiving A Golden Opportunity: Chris Hipkins knew that the day at Ratana would be Jacinda’s day – her final opportunity to bask in the unalloyed love and support of her followers. He simply could not afford to be seen to overshadow this last chance for his former boss ...
Extremism Consumes Itself: The plot of “Act of Oblivion” concerns the relentless pursuit of the “regicides” Edward Whalley and William Goffe – two of the fifty-nine signatories to King Charles I’s death warrant. As with his many other works of historical fiction, Robert Harris’s novel brings to life a period ...
To challenge the Government’s promotion of co-governance, to share power between Maori and public authorities and agencies, is to invite accusations of racism. An example: this article by Martyn Bradbury on The Daily Blog headed Luxon’s race baiting hypocrisy at Ratana. The article was triggered by National leader Christopher Luxon, ...
A very informative video discussion: Are we getting the whole story about Ukraine? | Robert Wright & Ivan Katchanovski Getting objective information on the situation in Ukraine and the cause of this current war is not easy. There is the current censorship and blatant mainstream media bias – which ...
Yesterday the Herald ran an op-ed from Mayor Wayne Brown titled “The case for light rail is lighter than ever” and a few things stood out. However, it’s getting more and more tricky to make a strong economic case for spending up to $29 billion on a single route of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington Imagine it’s a cold February night and your furnace breaks. You want to replace it with an electric heat pump because you’ve heard that tax credits will help pay for the switch. And you know that heat pumps can reduce ...
In 2005, then-National Party leader based his entire election campaign on racism, with his infamous racist Orewa speech and racist iwi/kiwi billboards. Now, Christopher Luxon seems to want to do it all again: Fresh off using his platform at this week's Rātana celebrations to criticise the government's approach to ...
Inflation is showing little sign of slowing down, posing a problem for freshly minted PM Chris Hipkins. According to that old campaigner Richard Prebble, Hipkins should call a snap election. If he waits till October, he risks being swept away. The dilemma for the new leader is that fighting an election ...
Buzz from the Beehive A great deal has happened since January 19. Among other things, a new Prime Minister and deputy have been sworn in and our leaders (past, present and aspiring) have delivered speeches at Ratana. Newshub reported that politicians of all stripes had descended upon Rātana for the ...
It’s a big day for New Zealand; our 41st Prime Minister has taken office and the new, “Chippy” era of politics is underway. Or, on the other hand, the Labour Party continues to govern with an overall majority and much the same leadership team in place. Life goes on and ...
New Zealand has another Prime Minister who does not have a basic grasp of the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi. THOMAS CRANMER writes: It is simply astonishing that New Zealand’s next Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, is unable to give even a brief explanation of the three articles ...
A statue of a semi-naked Nick Smith puts the misogyny debate into perspective. GRAHAM ADAMS writes … In the wake of Ardern’s abrupt resignation, the mainstream media are determined to convince us she was hounded from office mainly because she is a woman and had to fall on her sword ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is ...
An editorial in the NZ Herald last week, titled “Nimbyism goes bananas as housing intensifies“, introduced Herald readers to a couple of acronyms that go along with the now-familiar NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard): “bananas” (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) “cave” dwellers (citizens against virtually everything). The editorial ...
Back in the dark autumn of 2020, when the prospect of Covid was freaking the country out, Finance Minister Grant Robertson set himself and Treasury a series of questions about what a post-Covid economy might look like. Those were fearful days, and the questions in part reflected a series ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet another day has passed without Ministers of the Crown posting something to show they are still working for us on the Beehive website. Nothing new has been posted since January 17. Perhaps the ministers are all engaged in the bemusing annual excursion ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has already indicated he intends making the tax system “fairer”. That points to the route a government facing an election could take to tilt the odds towards winning in its favour, given Labour’s support in the last months of the Ardern era had been ...
NewsHub has a poll on the cost-of-living crisis, which has an interesting finding: the vast majority of kiwis prefer wage rises to tax cuts: When asked whether income has kept up with the cost of living, 54.8 percent of people surveyed said no and according to 58.6 percent of ...
Labour has begun 2023 with the centre-left bloc behind in the polls and losing ground. That being so, did his colleagues choose Chris Hipkins as the replacement for Jacinda Ardern because they think he has a realistic shot at leading them to victory this year, or because he‘s the best ...
Two Flags, Two Masters? Just as it required a full-scale military effort to destroy the first attempt at Māori self-government in the 1850s and 60s (an effort that divided Maoridom itself into supporters and opponents of the Crown) any second attempt to establish tino rangatiratanga, based on the confiscatory policies ...
The first of Kiwirail’s big network shutdowns to fix the foundations on our tracks is now well underway with the Southern Line closed between Otahuhu and Newmarket. This is following on from the network wide Christmas/New Year shutdown, during which Kiwirail say that nearly 1,300 people working across 69 different ...
This is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby blogIn last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congress included about $20 billion earmarked for natural climate solutions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for deciding how those funds should be allocated to meet the climate ...
You’ve really got to wonder at the introspection, or lack thereof, from much of the mainstream media post Jacinda Ardern stepping down. Some so-called journalists haven’t even taken a breath before once again putting the boot in, which clearly shows their inherent bias and lack of any misgivings about fueling ...
Over the weekend I was interviewed by a media outlet about the threats that Jacinda Ardern and her family have received while she has been PM and what can be expected now that she has resigned. I noted that the level of threat she has been exposed to is unprecedented ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is able to steer ...
The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey Lynn and Wellington Central towards the ...
Following the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern last week, her replacement, Chis Hipkins, has said: Over the coming week, Cabinet will be making decisions on reining in some programs and projects that aren’t essential right now That messaging is similar to what Jacinda Ardern said late last year and as ...
Much of what will mark the early days of Chris Hipkins’ Prime Ministership would have happened anyway. By December, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister were making it clear the summer break and early days of this year were going to be spent on a reset of government policy. ...
Going to try to get into the blogging thing again (ha!) what with an election coming up and all that. So today I thought I'd start small and simple, by merely tackling the world's (second) richest man.I'm no fan of Elon Musk. You don't want to know why, but I'll ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 15, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 21, 2023. Story of the Week State of the climate: How the world warmed in 2022With a new year underway, most of the climate data for ...
Well, that was a disappointment. As of today, the New Zealand Labour Caucus opted for Chris Hipkins as our new Prime Minister, and I cannot help but let loose a cynical cackle. ...
Get ready for a major political reset once Chris Hipkins is sworn in as Prime Minister this week. Labour’s new leader is likely to push the Government to the right economically, and do his best to jettison the damaging perceptions that Labour has become “too woke” on social issues. Overall, ...
Things have gone sideways… and it’s only the third week of January? It was political earthquake time. For some the Prime Minister made a truly significant announcement. For others – did you have this on your bingo card? – a body double did so (sit tight, you’ll understand later, ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
The Government is making an initial contribution of $150,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Tairāwhiti following ex-Tropical Cyclone Hale, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “While Cyclone Hale has caused widespread heavy rain, flooding and high winds across many parts of the North Island, Tairāwhiti ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified this week’s Cyclone Hale that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne District as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “We’re making up to $100,000 available to help coordinate efforts as farmers and growers recover from the heavy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Finnigan, Leader, Complex Systems Science, CSIRO ShutterstockOne of Australia’s leading climate scientists, Professor Will Steffen, died on Sunday. Steffen has been hailed as a leading climate thinker, selfless mentor and gifted communicator. He is survived by his wife ...
New Zealand’s reputation as a country mostly free from corruption in its public service and judiciary has been reaffirmed in the 2022 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says. But Mr Boshier ...
New Zealand is ranked second equal with Finland in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark is now clearly at the top of the ranking. New Zealand’s score dropped one point to 87 while Denmark improved by 2 points scoring 90. This is only the third ...
Analysis: In juggling his cabinet, the new prime minister said he sought to balance stability with renewal, writes Toby Manhire.There were some massive shifts reflected in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced this afternoon – it’s just we knew about them already. Specifically: Mt Albert MP ...
Auckland Emergency Management has issued an Emergency Mobile Alert (EMA) warning of the potential for further extremely heavy rain to hit the Auckland region tonight. The alert asks Aucklanders to act immediately if they see rising water, due to how quickly flooding can happen. They should evacuate to high ...
Ayesha Verrall will become the minister of health and moves to the front bench, taking the portfolio over from Andrew Little. Kieran McAnulty will join cabinet and take over the local government portfolio. Meanwhile, Little drops seven spots on the list, Phil Twyford is no longer a minister, and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Graycar, Professor of Public Policy, University of Adelaide Just months after Australia legislated to establish the long-anticipated National Anti-Corruption Agency, our standing is back on the rise in Transparency International’s annual Global Corruption Perceptions Index. This is a small but important ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Ferguson, Director, Appleton Institute, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock After a few difficult years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, people are finally winging their way across the globe again; families are being reunited and sights are being seen. Yet the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Goodwin, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne Terren Hurst on Unsplash In May, we predicted Tony Burke’s joint portfolio of workplace relations and the arts was an opportunity to address some of the challenges facing the arts and cultural sector. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danny Kingsley, Visiting Fellow, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University Shutterstock Unless you’ve spent your summer on a digital detox, you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT: the latest AI chatbot taking the world by storm. ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists welcomes former ASMS member Dr Ayesha Verrall into her new role as Minister of Health. "Dr Verrall brings significant professional experience sharpened by her time in Parliament serving as the Associate ...
Today the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Kieran McAnulty as the new Minister of Local Government. “We welcome Minister McAnulty to the role and call on him to follow the Review into the Future of Local Government’s recommendation ...
The Taxpayer’s Union has welcomed the appointment of a new Minister for Local Government and encouraged Kieran McAnulty to press pause on the Three Waters reforms. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said: “A new Minister for ...
COMMENTARY:By Gavin Ellis It is unlikely that the Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown, took any lessons from the city’s devastating floods but the rest of us — and journalists in particular — could learn a thing or two. Brown’s demeanour will not be improved by a petition calling for ...
RNZ Pacific The headquarters of the Malvatumauri of National Council of Chiefs of Vanuatu has burned down. The fire broke out about 1am Monday local time. Police are investigating the cause of the fire in Port Vila. The Malvatumauri nakamal is a custom parliament for all Vanuatu’s chiefs. “This nakamal ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown is under fire for calling New Zealand journalists “drongos”, blaming them for having to cancel a round of tennis with friends on Sunday as the city dealt with the aftermath of record rainfall and flooding that left four dead. It comes after widespread criticism of ...
Things are acutely uncomfortable for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown right now, but can he recover to save his mayoralty? Less than a month after Wayne Brown was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland, a leading figure in central government was asked privately how the city might handle this unconventional figure ...
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) welcomes Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health role. NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the organisation and its members are looking forward to working ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced Jan Tinetti, Ayesha Verrall, Willie Jackson and Kiri Allan are being shifted up the Labour rankings, with Nanaia Mahuta and Andrew Little dropping down. Watch here. ...
Jamie Wall reviews Invincible by WJ Moloney, which covers Andrew (Son) White’s life and experiences of World War I, rugby and survival.“He saw it, and all the other memorials, was conceived and created for what was lost, by those who survived. Stark and imposing, thoughtfully designed and inscribed with ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week to meet with Australian PM Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins said. The meeting marks ...
A state of emergency has been declared in Northland as the region braces for more rain. Metservice is forecasting up to 140mm of rain across Northland, with some areas in the north and east getting 220mm, peaking at 40mm per hour. The state of emergency is effective as of 1pm ...
Never thought you’d order Uber Eats from the Coffee Club? You might have and not even known it, writes Sam Brooks.I spend a lot of my time scrolling through the Uber Eats app. Only half of the time is it because I’m looking for something to eat. The other ...
Consumers have been warned to prepare for fruit and vegetable shortages as floodwaters in the upper North Island impact food safety. The weekend’s flooding will exacerbate supply issues caused by rainy conditions this summer in much of the country, leading to higher prices nationwide. Anne-Marie Arts of industry group United ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University In 2016, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence released its findings following an exhaustive 13-month inquiry. In it were 227 recommendations to ...
In recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Problem Gambling Foundation will launch a new wānanga series of online videos on Waitangi Day, featuring conversations with Māori influencers about the systemic injustices experienced by Māori including ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eliza Middleton, Biodiversity Management Officer, University of Sydney Overall winner of the 2018 competition, a Growling Grass Frog (_Litoria raniformis_) by EnviroDNA @enviro_DNA@enviro_DNA, CC BY-NC Almost 2,000 native species are officiallylisted as “threatened” in Australia – but how many have ...
Youthtown is launching [email protected] with two online after school programs aimed at giving kids a safe and supervised environment. Minecraft Monday and Imagination Lab - STEAM Kits are hosted in secure online groups that enable children to get a ...
The more hard surfaces we build, the more stormwater we need to drain. Here’s how we can future-proof our urban design as climate change bites. We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we saw in Auckland on Friday. ...
The soaring cost of living is fuelling an education crisis for New Zealand children living in poverty. To coincide with the start of the new school year, KidsCan is launching its 2023 Back to School campaign with the aim to bring on board 450 new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nina Sivertsen, Senior Lecturer (Nursing), Flinders University Getty Images It’s good practice for employers to consult staff when forming policies or guidelines. However, for some staff from diverse backgrounds, this creates extra work and pressure. “Cultural load” in the ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has launched a petition calling for schools to have the authority to make their own decisions about emergency closures based on local circumstances rather than be beholden to bureaucrats in Wellington. Taxpayers’ ...
Duncan Greive founded The Spinoff in 2014. Today he has decided to hand the torch to his colleague and friend Amber Easby. He explains why.I swear I thought of it first. Or at least, in parallel. I remember walking up the stairs to work on January 9, and for ...
Today’s launch of Waipuna aa rangi, the formal body set to represent hapū and iwi across Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau in the Three Waters reforms, has been postponed by the ongoing extreme weather event. “The latest red warning for parts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics AO, University of Newcastle Pexels/Anna Shvets Ever feel a bit stressed or need a concentration boost? Research suggests one remedy may be right under your nose. Chewing has benefits for brain function, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danny C Price, Senior research fellow, Curtin University Midjourney, Author provided Some 540 million years ago, diverse life forms suddenly began to emerge from the muddy ocean floors of planet Earth. This period is known as the Cambrian Explosion, and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilla Nelson, EG Whitlam Research Fellow at the Whitlam Institute, and Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame Australia April Fonti/AAP There is much to be excited about in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023, the first in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Naylor, Senior Lecturer, Massey University Getty Images The clean-up from Auckland’s devastating floods last week is just beginning but insurance companies will need to start thinking about what the record-breaking weather event will mean for future coverage. Over ...
A coalition of anti-poverty and welfare advocacy groups has called for urgent government action to support people affected by flooding in Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Waikato. The Fairer Future group - which called for increases in income support ...
<img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2301/634c21cb071ff0232051.jpeg" width="720" height="221"> “Raising the legal age for buying cigarettes to 20 is a good move, but effectively banning e-cigarettes is disappointing ...
Hospital waiting lists grow Chris Hipkins is expected to announce his cabinet reshuffle today. There’s been some speculation that Andrew Little may lose the health portfolio to Ayesha Verrall. As Stuff’s Bridie Witton reported, Little said he was happy to stick it out as the health minister. ...
In the December 2022 quarter, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, Stats NZ said today. This compares with 0.4 percent in the December 2021 quarter, and 0.5 percent in the September 2022 ...
MetService satellite imaging shows a deepening low moving towards New Zealand. It’s expected to bring more heavy rain to areas already impacted by the record-breaking rainfall on Friday that caused severe flooding in Auckland. Red and orange heavy rain warnings have been issued. Red warnings are issued when rain is ...
New Zealand is well behind the rest of the world when it comes to transferring money between banks. Shane Marsh and James McEniery discovered this when they were living in Singapore and started Aotearoa’s first real time payment mobile wallet. They aim to bring banking in New Zealand into the ...
Our uniforms are overpriced and so packed with plastics they’ll outlive our great-great-grandchildren, write the student journalists of Balmoral Intermediate. Last year, Balmoral Intermediate’s student-run newspaper Kawepūrongo released a multi-part investigation into their polyester-packed school uniforms. The first instalment, titled “What Really Goes Into Our Uniform?” was initially sparked by ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that a Police dog handler’s decision to command his dog to restrain two young people while arresting them for attempting to steal a car was a justified, necessary and proportionate response in ...
While the upper North Island braces for more heavy rain, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown remains adamant he’s not resigning as a new text message about “media drongos” sent by Brown comes to light, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The ...
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RNZ this morning govts books the envy of every other country in the world.With a Conservative growth rate of 2 1/2 % and the lowest debt rate of any country with supply constraints stopping a better result
Bridges and luxon bald face liars saying the govt can't manage the economy ,barking at cars again.
yep, whenever my nat-supporting mates pipe up about labour being useless economically I always point out to them that the evidence is otherwise. They always go silent (because they have never considered any evidence, only listened to the myth).
As a business owner I prefer left governments because the economy always improves and I get more sales. I said to said mates the same would happen when this government got in, and it has.
Conservatives on the other hand always act conservatively and the economy shrinks back from its natural tendency courtesy of that conservatism.
Most of my mates haven't even considered that the nats are the conservatives. They go silent on this again.
So many people don't even think about this stuff.. they just repeat the lines they hear…
National – conservatives and with a record of poorly economic outcome.
Labour – forward-stepping and with a record of superior economic outcome
this is the evidence
it needs shouting to the rooftops – like, really shouting
Progressives grow opportunities through better fiscal management and money supply, which though it does increase inflation also leads to a better tax take and "money go round". People are employed and contributing, so social and environmental concerns start getting addressed.
Conservatives shrink it all through austerity. That means less tax to do any social or environmental work. Unemployment grows though conservatives become Nelson like looking with their "blind eye" at problems, which becomes "what problems?'
It's taxes and keeping wages down businesses focus on not turnover and profits
Another interpretation is that that Luxon, Bridges etc DONT actually know how the economy works.
Yep. That's my pick. Hollow men.
gosh, Jacinda must be a bit embarrassed then, I mean she did pick Chris Luxon to head her Business Advisory Group
Probably, yes. Although running a business is not the same thing as running an economy.
Yes its a hard message to get through Gezza.
She picked Rob Fyfe too.
Wonder if he thinks Luxona …turned Air NZ …around!
Luxton and Bridges are still stuck in the Thatcher philosophy that economies run the same as your household budget.
Victoria University Professor of Strategic Studies Robert Ayson:
He doesn't explain what these sophisticated military capabilities are, nor even mention whether or not they are available for using. Typical academic!
But will they?? Could be the govt's refusal to interpret the crisis to our public is due to perception that it would not be in the interests of the Solomons to do so. And belief that folks here ain't all that interested in the Solomons anyway. Lay low, say nuffin is a traditional strategy (http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-wonderful-tar-baby-story.html) which Labour is prudently deploying.
America is extremely jealous of China's rising influence.
China has the will and the resources to challenge U.S dominance in technology science,and engineering.
Who else can compete against the U.S behemoths like the FAANG's.
Companies like Huawei,Ali Baba,Tiktok,Weibo etc…can.
The belt and road initiative and the scale of China's soft loans from the Pacific to Africa are a source of discontent for the Hawks in the U.S.
A campaign ,almost a Cold War, to try and demonise and isolate China is in play.
The usual vassals line up to support the U.S.
Australia ,the americans BFF is taking a prominent role in criticising Chinese actions in the Sth China Sea.
The propaganda machine highlights the tennis star controvosy ,the designs of China on Taiwan, Chinas increasing military resources,and the defaults of chinese developers.
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
With Afghanistan another flop on the record,the military/industrial interests are onto another moneymaker.
How easy is it to win over the hearts and minds of the chattering class.
All the above is true, certainly, but Chinese officials are now also adopting a much more publicly muscular tone in demanding that critics shut up or they will face PRC retaliatory measures.
We need to steer a very careful course, being so dependent on them economically.
So far our Government has managed to tread softly around the belligerence between the US and China. The US certainly hasn't done us any favours in the trade area.
Astonishing how you managed to get almost everything wrong on that little rant. But just two will do:
The U.S has abandoned manufacturing over the years and now the world would struggle without the efficiency of the Chinese trading sector.
In reality the US is re-industrialising at a rapid pace, and supply chains are pulling out from a PRC now widely regarded as unreliable as fast as they possibly can.
The two biggest threats to U.S hegemony are both Communist countries.
Laughable. Russia has shrunk to a GDP a little larger than Australia and NZ combined and it's population is shrinking even faster. (Recent data suggests it could be even worse than shown there.)
China has numerous structural and political problems that present an intractable challenge to it's long term stability. Not to mention a terminal demography of it's own. Compare this with the US projection.
Old assumptions about how the world works are crumbling because the US is now defining it's interests on a far more transactional basis than it did in the past. On current trends there will soon be no US boots on the ground anywhere in the world – short of that needed to man their network of bases and alliances they choose to maintain. Already Putin calculates that if he invades Ukraine the US will not intervene, and the Middle East is on it's own.
But if you imagine that any of this will make the world safe for Communism I suspect you're in for a disappointment.
So the U.S are reindustrializing are they?Wonderful,does it rely on Govt stimulus/susidies or reducing wages?
True that U.S sanctions have reduced GDP in Russia.
So how many of the 800 plus U.S bases around the world are closing down and when!
No boots on the ground….when will this occur,20,50 years from now.Patent nonsense.
Safe from Communism!Where does Capt America change into his tights,with no phone booths around now-when will the world be safe from
I provided a number of references – all you have is a silly cartoon. About sums it up.
The 'silly' cartoon is made by an experienced ex U.S State Dept officer.
I would think he may have a better understanding of U.S foreign 'policy' than you.
What part of the 'silly' cartoon,do you have an issue with?
You had your opportunity to make a substantive reply and you had nothing.
All it will say is that the US like all great powers can be very ruthless. I’ve pointed this out many times before. But that does not makes it’s opponents lilly-white – as you obviously pretend they are.
Not at all.Never thought any country was 'lily white'…but I recognise double standards and hypocrisy when I see it.
Just labelling something as 'silly' is as weak as someones response to a Jordan Peterson video put up recently…Jordan's a 'twit'.
Imo your response to my initial post illustrated that you'had nothing'.
Quite right Blazer, but trying to get through to the red neck of logic is useless, his imbedded faith will not allow him to see anything good in anything that mentions communism.
Well given the US has been embarrassed in every conflict since the Vietnam War I think the cartoon is appropriate.
China is developing its technology at a much faster rate than the US.
Also manufacturing capability wins wars China has a much larger capability.especially in modern technology hence Biden spending billions on chip manufacturing capability so the US is not reliant on 84% imports mostly from China.
From China? Are you sure? Taiwan's coming up in google as the world's largest computer chip manufacturer:
Taiwan is the country that produces the most number of chips globally, thanks to TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which controls 51% of the global chip market.
Because China has been building infrastructure and developing poor countries with cheap loans.
The US is having to match Chinese expansionist with similar initiatives.
So developing countries are winning.
I think we gave up on good political satire a while back which is why John Clarke left these shores. Even without him, Aus still does good satire. Heres Australia's Defence Policy Explained. It could be that though Scotty hasn't got the memo, Ardern has seen it and is acting on it by doing a Brer fox even though shes not responsible for the tar baby and is unlikely to roll on the ground laughing
Yep….Juice Media, The Chaser, The Shovel…all good Aussie political satire. haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard, though (not suggesting that most of posters here are satirical!).
haven't found anything quite like an Australian equivalent of the Standard,
Probably because the prospect of moderating a pack of rabid Aussies all sledging each other flat out would make any sane person's blood run cold.
Try discord heaps of hard out commentary. Your right about the sledging, but it's fun.
My fav of the last couple of weeks, reminding the Aussies of all the crying into the camera of late on losing the captaincy. Or more bluntly, if you wanna send dick pix you get whats coming to ya.
Matt McCarten has written a One Union Letter to the Speaker:
But Matt, why would you expect a public service manager to take responsibility for their misbehaviour?? They know the privilege system protects them.
Bullying works better if you use a lawyer to do it too rather than just diy. Rafael must realise that one tough guy ain't enough to victimise his employees. He needs to ramp things up into some kind of public shit-fight. High Noon would be good.
Matt asks Mallard to help resolve things instead:
Parliamentary Services may not be hopeless. Wouldn't surprise me if a few of them are hoping for a change. Can the duck quack loudly enough?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/12/15/one-union-letter-to-mallard/
Looks like Matt's making a start on his threat in a podcast earlier this week to publicly expose the bullies in Parliament. (I posted a link a day or two ago.)
He went on at some length about the tactic of employers and MPs sending lawyers letters to shut complainants up because they can't afford to litigate.
If he gets no joy from Speaker Trev, maybe we can expect him to start naming names?
He said in his podcast that bullying of powerless Parliamentary Services staff by certain MPs has been rampant for decades and he's going to do something about it.
For decades whoever is in government fails to grasp that it is usually the cover up which is worse than the original mistreatment of the person. The process to get the grievance exposed requires the person making the complaint to have the resources and all the documentation so the issue does not drag on for months, years or decades.
I have followed the plight of the children/youth who had their lives ripped apart when in so called welfare, religious or psychiatric care. I am pleased that what happened has been exposed.
Crown Law was the biggest obstacle due to having an endless supply of money, delay tactics, with holding information to squash children and youth. There are still historical cases involving the government which need addressing.
Tweet of the day:
lol, perfect.
Leading feminist leaves us.
Thanks for posting. She did a lot of work on intersectionalism, and I'd come across a couple of clips recently of her talking to Laverne Cox, which may be of interest.
So, I searched and found the full discussion (haven't watched).
There's a series with bell hooks talking to others, one with Gloria Steinem, so I'll post links tp both. I'm sure that if people are interested they can find the rest.
.
One of Wokedom's leading dogmatists … has much to answer for.
Along with Crenshaw & a handful of others, she applied uber-relativist 1960s French Post-Modernism, divorced from truth & reality, to a crude, radical Identity Politics, seeking to destroy the main precepts of both Social Democracy and, more broadly, Liberal Democracy.
Subsequently adopted by a bloated financially-privileged narcissistic White ID Politics Cadre … then increasingly imposed on Society.
Philosophers, writers, artists, commentators etc all contribute to the public discourse by writing or articulating their perspective.
It doesn't mean we have to accept all, or indeed any, of their views. And we also have to be aware that sometimes those views can be mispresented by others.
There are many examples of bell hooks taking time to explain, or willing to be contested on her approach.
I think that is exactly the kind of robust debate we should be aiming for.
How many times does this make it that offenders have stolen police cars in the last couple of years? Do they leave the keys in the ignition – or do modern day electronic start ignitions make it easier for anybody to get in, start one up & drive away in it?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-car-stolen-in-crash-aftermath-on-state-highway-38-in-kaingaroa-forest/JCRMM4UXFUEUVPS2MRSSOY6SMA/
Keystone cops! The bloke needs to be charged and be made to pay for damage to the police vehicle.
Trev officially thanks Tova in parliament:
It wouldn't surprise me to see Tova as a Labour party list MP in a few years.
How high up the list would she have to be to get in given there will be those who got in this time as electorate MPs who will miss out next time?
Not as high as Tamati Coffey but above the bottom 15 that the majority of, aren't very well known.
Those deep relationships she has built with Nat caucus leakers should come in handy. Oh, wait..
JLR has gone now.
He had gone before Muller was leader. The leaks continued. Then Collins was leader. The leaks increased.
There should be a leak-lull now, at least until the New Year. Then Luxon has to make some decisions, dump some policies, and the tap will be turned back on.
I have no idea why you’d think that. Probably just an offhand idiotic comment that takes absolutely no cognisance of history. It is your usual comment style.
Offhand, I can only think of one journo (and that is a stretch because he was more of a presenter) becoming a MP for Labour. That is over the 4 decades I have been looking at Labour. That was Tamati Coffey. But he was really the exception.
There have been a few in National. One of the Smiths comes to mind. But that was decades ago.
Mostly people out of the journo and media world get involved in national politics by either training politicians to not look like fools in front of the camera, work on politicians staffs as press flacks, or on retirement go to become local body politicians.
Surely even you know this?
Kris Faafoi was a broadcaster and journalist before becoming Phil Goff's press secretary and then MP in 2010. Still, only 2 in however long doesn’t suggest Labour as a natural home for journalists.
What is the story he is referring to do you think?
I wonder if it relates to this?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/124229190/man-who-sued-mallard-over-sex-assault-defamation-given-suppression
That seems logical – thanks
An update on Omicron from SA:
Essentially then, another reasoned proposition alongside the observed reality, as to why there will be no huge spike in hospital admissions and/or deaths in the UK, US and Europe. And yet politicians and supposed public health officials there are playing their fear cards again, and legacy media are running with what they're told to run with again and banging on about lock-downs and third injections and the sky falling in.
Is NZ going to cut the nonsense, dump the discriminatory traffic light and mandate bullshit and open the international border?
No. Like the Russia Hoax, the Covid narrative will run…and run…and run.
Covid responses are about politics, not health.
Yes – the next month or so will tell us which govts are going to put public health ahead their perceived political advantage.
I'll pick….none.
In terms of public health response, governments have dug a hole for themselves with the "fear monkey" messaging of the past few years.
But since the primary incentive for government actions has been political, and since the political objectives required that a particular health narrative was spun and then bolstered – they're stuck. Or rather, we're going to continue being pushed down a particular track unless or until we reject the "fear monkey" narrative that's driving levels of compliance across society that we're all going to come to regret.
Article for this video can be found here. Deep data dive: is Omicron the end of the pandemic?
Dr Campbell's video up as well including links to data. He writes all the extrapolated facts in the description for the readers or time-constrained.
Notice, that in stark contrast to the head of the South African Medical Association who has been reporting Omicron is mild infection, the line from Professor Shabir Madhi (a vaccinologist) …is that Omicron probably isn't less severe than Delta and that milder disease is only down to the effects of previous infection and vaccines.
I'm thinking that's questionable, because if that's the case, then why wasn't a similar pattern of decreasing hospitalisations and deaths observed in the case of Delta infections/re-infections?
Maybe the Professor Shabir Madhi has skin in the game?
can't make sense of his shorthand without watching the video.
A(nother) talk about “the end of the pandemic“! If "it's over" then it's about time, imho.
Mind you, the number of current COVID-19 patients has never been higher, having just passed 22,000,000, while the number people dying daily from COVID chugs along at a remarkably stable and tragic 7,000, give or take.
It's interesting that, for all our scientific understanding and technical progress, here we have someone with a PhD in engineering who is suggesting that relying on Homo sapiens' immune systems is at least as good as, if not a better bet than relying on medical interventions to save lives during this pandemic.
No doubt that's correct – 'we' could indeed survive the current pandemic "as a species" without recourse to modern medicine. Once this pandemic is over, our scientific and medical communities will be in a better position to evaluate how many lives were saved by vaccinating against Covid-19, and whether there were better options (maybe they will even be able to learn a thing or two from little old NZ). For example, maybe 'we' could have designed a more transmissible and less virulent variant and deliberately seeded it globally. But be careful what you wish for…
Brian Tamaki's election campaign continues:
"A crowd of hundreds has amassed at Wellington’s Civic Square ahead of a protest organised by Brian Tamaki’s Freedom & Rights Coalition in central Wellington today.
Tamaki estimated up to 50,000 people would be at the protest but those there believe the number was closer to 1000 by 10.50am at Civic Square, when Parliament grounds remained virtually empty."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127273863/crowd-gathers-before-protest-to-parliament-against-vaccine-mandates
In May 2019 at the announcement about the formation of the Coalition New Zealand Party (changed to Vision New Zealand) Tamaki promised the party would be a "vehicle" for the "silent majority" to express their beliefs.
"Our Kiwi way of life is in danger, our freedom, our values, our cultures, as a people, as we knew it, as New Zealanders living here, has been in danger because of the harmful policies that have been coming from this Government," he told reporters.
He said he had yet to decide if he will stand for a seat but would support his wife leading a party that he said would reflect "politics with teeth".
It's exactly the same stuff he's been saying in recent months. instead of the little sprint they had to the election last time, he's on the long run up.
In 2020 out of 2,886,420 votes cast they got 4,237. It's likely they'll double their vote in 2023. To get a list seat? He'll have to
Will he stand as a candidate? No. Why? Because he couldn't stand to be seen as a loser. "In 2004, Tamaki predicted the Destiny Church would be "ruling the nation" before its tenth anniversary in 2008." (wiki)
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/brian-and-hannah-tamaki-to-lead-new-destiny-church-political-party.html
Brian Tamaki is a legend in his own lunchtime living in the destiny bubble.
Change a consonant or 2 and it's the density church.
The funniest thing about this is the organisers genuinely believed that MPs would be in the House today, made their plans weeks ago, and their followers simply followed without questioning (or even Googling).
And they call the rest of us sheep.
Must admit, this one made me grin…
But this one didn't …
It appears that the 'invasion' of Congress in the US lives rent free in their heads!
With a criminal conviction he won't be able to run.
His wife ran last time. He never did.
Peter Fraser went to prison in 1916 and ended up becoming prime minister
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9184686/The-courage-of-their-convictions
That suggests Labour are so principled that they're willing to turn criminals into MPs in their own party. However it is tradition that one swallow don't make a summer.
To establish a tradition of rehabilitating criminals in this manner, they need more than one. A sequence would suffice.
To make this happen, Labour ought to organise a team of recruiters to hang out with the gangs on checkpoints this summer. An ideal opportunity!
I am reading John A. Lee's Simple On A Soapbox. Labour have just been re-elected in 1938. Savage, Nash and Fraser are being criticised for objecting to social policies.
The Old Man (Savage), resisted increasing the super and lowering the age from 65 to 60. Ironically he was hailed and received the credit for doing so from the adulating crowds.
Of course, this is just Lee's reckons. He has a lovely turn of phrase. He describes Nash (finance minister), as 'a codlin moth that would starve if it didn't own the apple it was on.'
AFAIK only if the offence is punishable by 2 or more years imprisonment.
Only if convicted while in Parliament.
Yet there doesn't appear to be any obligation to disclose criminal convictions..
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/11/bill-would-force-political-candidates-to-disclose-criminal-convictions.html
The only things that stops people being a candidate are being a Returning Officer or on the Electoral Commission, not being a citizen or being disqualified as a voter. Criminal convictions only affect that if they are for corrupt practices as defined by the Electoral Act.
An MP is automatically removed as an MP if they are convicted of an offence with a possible sentence of at least 2 years' imprisonment, but if they are not an MP at the time, it does not disqualify them from standing. Likewise someone in prison for more than 3 years can't stand while they are in prison as they can't be registered to vote either, but once they are out, are free to stand (if they can find people willing to nominate them).
oh boy, the future will be bright n rosy. Surely.
https://theintercept.com/2021/12/13/brinc-startup-taser-drones-migrants/
Obviously the migrants will have to wear Trump masks in future. You can imagine the border guards watching the screens: "Hey, there goes Trump again! Boy, whatta dude! Sure does get around."
Because others would not abuse the same situation. Good grief. Good effn grief.
The internet does love Keanu Reeves.
Other perspectives on Omicron. I'd still vote for the precautionary principle.
This from researcher Eric Topol (11/12/21)
Omicron
Passenger Germany to Dubai to Auckland to Christchurch. NZ first omicron case.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/127297946/west-coast-driving-instructor-admits-falsifying-licences-for-gang-members
I wonder how many of these gang bikies the police are stopping to check their licences now?
You reckon they're crap riders?
That’s one way of putting it.
When we look at dishonesty in our society, do we look past the bikers to the people using forged vaccination certificates? And then beyond that to those without current vehicle registrations? And then to the drug users, the scammers, the letter box pilferers? And then beyond them to those collecting benefits etc unentitledly?
Do we look at the speedsters, the drunk drivers?
Then do we look at those rorting the taxation system?
And then do we ask, how many of us are there left?
I'm pretty confident it isn't just me.
National identity is primarily based on the nation state, but there's always a substantial component of mythos which folks share. Symbolism & icons are often a focus for that. Origin myths are the most potent form. Any collective belief can become an element of mythos when it percolates down the generations.
Competing groups with different belief systems may seem nothing new, but if the overall US social matrix is disintegrating the competition becoming shrill and incoherent could be an indicator of the onset of mass psychosis as pandemic…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018824634/ika-rere-the-electric-ferry-heading-for-wellington-s-harbour
Cool.

Excellent! Seems like proven tech so no teething problems or design-tweaking.
Sounds good. Hopefully Wellington’s leading the way. Do you know of any other Kiwiland harbour ferries that are all-electric?
Welly’s probably lucky that the harbour is comparatively small so the ferry doesn’t have a particularly long haul between Eastbourne & Queen’s Wharf.
Do you know of any other Kiwiland harbour ferries that are all-electric?
Haven't heard of any. I suspect Wellington can stake a claim to being most progressive city in the nation as soon as the system is up & running!
Wonder how fast the Aucks will figure that out?? Then copy…
Great that they’ve set up a boat building company as well. There are a few car ferries up North (eg Russell, The Hokianga harbour) that might be interested.
Auckland will possibly want to build its own.
saying the heresy out loud
Or without:
large scale imported stock food
and
heavy doses of fertiliser
and
special facilities to manage feedlot stock management from runoff etc
and
and
Our country is rife with 'farmers' squeezing productivity out of country that is not designed for it – like someone trying to fit into shoes that are too small.
Yes.
Crikey corruption watch from across the ditch. Murdoch family insider gets to chair the ACCC for 5 years.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb was lachlans lawyer, director of Murdoch's family trust so she now gets to hold sway over transactions that impact Murdoch's tv, newspaper and real estate websites.
She could be great, samuels was despite initial concerns but crikey those optics aren't good.
Leaders hold virtual summit as Putin declares Russia-China relations ‘a proper example of interstate cooperation’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have held a video meeting, as friction persists in both countries’ relations with the West.
In their opening remarks at the virtual summit on Wednesday, Putin and Xi hailed relations between Russia and China, with the Russian leader declaring them “a proper example of interstate cooperation in the 21st century”.
“A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based among other things on such principles as not interfering in internal affairs [of each other], respect for each other’s interests, determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said.
Xi said that the Russian president “strongly supported China’s efforts to protect key national interests and firmly opposed attempts to drive a wedge between our countries.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/15/russia-putin-china-xi-to-hold-talks-amid-tensions-with-west
It’s a difficult issue for the West, this thing China & Russia have about not criticising each other – or other countries – over what they say are solely their own internal affairs. The major western powers – & NZ – will criticise their internal policies or actions.
But the US & we all seem to be strangely silent about some repressive countries like, say, Saudi Arabia. Double standards are the pits. They cut you off from the moral high ground at the knees.
The fact is we're not very outspoken about internal Russian or Chinese repression either.
No condemnation of the Uyghur genocide as such, nor of the Chechen genocide. That's Goffian Weak Sauce™ foreign policy.
Our silence has emboldened these scoundrels who, now they are partners in crime, propose to seize weak adjacent territories whose citizens would vote that they not do so.
Interesting factoid: The Taliban announced that one of the IS suicide bombers that killed many people in Kabul notblong after they took over was a Uyghur.
The PRC of course claim the measures they have taken in Xinjiang province are to deal with a significant terrorism problem.
It's a tricky matter – but the Russians killed about half the population of Chechenya, and dislocated many of the survivors to Ingushetia. Should these people become pacifists then? It will be hard to persuade the rising generation of young men of that. I expect some similar logic applies to the Uyghurs, though the creation of the Mujahideen complicates such calculations.
Whats voting got to do with anything….military coups in Thailand and Fiji,barely raised an…eyebrow.
Military coups may in some instances be justified – though Thailand and Fiji are very different instances. NZ did not choose wisely in respect of Fiji, in part due to the murders.
But, voting, the democratic mandate, is a vehicle by which regimes can claim a degree of legitimacy.
After all, Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses.
Military coups are…always 'justified.'
Burma is another case study.Rohingas.
Genocide-Armenians.-Kurds.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Where's Burma? You mean Myanmar? The country that had a circus of foreign puppets as a government? The country where the military, who constituted around 50% of the legitimate government called time on the farce of foreign control?
You do know that a swathe of SE Asia is being heavily messed with by the US in ways that are on an entirely different plain to anything that Russia was meant to be engaged in with the whole Russia Hoax stuff, right?
The ludicrous farce of Trump somehow being a Russian puppet was the reality (with receipts) for Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi (and her inner circle) of Washington puppets.
And yet somehow, all the people who frothed over Trump/Putin reckon it's not legitimate for a country to claim itself back from foreign control? pfft
The coup and the Rohinga genocide are not the same thing. Separate crimes requiring separate defenses.
No one cares what NZ has to say.
Communist and former communist states are particularly sensitive to the propaganda effect of some kinds of official responses. Had NZ denounced either event, the dodgy regimes concerned would have been mightily miffed. Other civilised countries would have given the matter more thought, and some of the more enlightened ones would likely have added their voices.
Not to burst your bubble or anything Stuart Munro, but how do you have a genocide of the Uyghur, when their population keeps growing?
I would have though genocide implies the killing of people, so populations would go down would they not?
Genocide can not only be killing, but also the obliteration of whole cultures.
There is example evidence of erasure of Uyghurs.
You did not say cultural genocide, you said genocide.
That said, watering down the definition of genocide is a road I don't want to walk down. It really does undercut what happened in the Armenian, Safo, Romani, East Timor, Rwandan, Bosnian, Jewish, and Cambodian genocides.
So I'm not buying into the media saying there is a genocide happening to the the Uygur. First of all, no bodies and secondly where is the proof that their culture is being crushed? Your link was rather lite on any proof, a lot of emotional manipulation and supposition, sure, but cold hard proof, not really. It's why I called you on the dead bodies, and the cop out of cultural genocide is a weak response at best.
Yeah – you didn't really read the links. Scepticism is fine, uninformed scepticism not so much.
intent to "destroy in whole or in part" a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. "All five criteria of genocide are evidenced as taking place in Xinjiang," she said. Ms Ghani said detainees were subject to "brutal torture methods, including beatings with metal prods, electric shocks and whips".
From the UK declaration on the Uyghur genocide in my link.
Love the quote you published to prove my point. Low on facts, heavy on emotional manipulation and way off the mark where genocide is concerned. It's like screw all the people in the past who were murdered as part of a actually genocide, we have propaganda we want to spin.
As it's not going to sink in with you, lets just stop ah.
There is not and never was a Uygur genocide, neither actual nor cultural.
There was a separatist movement slaughtering people (including Muslims) in Xinjjang, who were jihadists sunk in the ideology of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism.
They fucked off to chop heads in Syria. They are still there. And also in Afghanistan.
And they're funded and promoted by the the US State Department through their National Endowment for Democracy.
You want to see genocide in Xinjiang? Then wait for the day they ever manage to re-enter the region. Chances are they wont be able to for two reasons. Firstly, the Chinese government invested in a shitload of economic development and infrastructure in the region and secondly, they put in place a surveillance framework that essentially means they know if you so much as scratch your arse.
There are four rather bold assertions there, scattered like faux pearls from a string which could not sustain them.
I wonder if you can support any of them – I'll excuse you the first – one cannot prove a negative.
I really hope Stuart Nash said to Hosking: "We won, you lost, drink that." (Michael Cullen RIP).
Nash bet on 90% vaccinated, so Hosking has to pay up
"determination to turn the shared border into a belt of eternal peace and good neighbourliness,” Putin said."
Despite the history of unequal treaties.
"The treaty also ceded parts of Outer Manchuria to the Russian Empire. It granted Russia the right to the Ussuri krai, a part of the modern day Primorye, the territory that corresponded with the ancient Manchu province of East Tartary. See Treaty of Aigun (1858), Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Peking