” “This is not just an attack on the French people, it is an attack on human decency and all things that we hold dear,” says U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. I’m not sure I hold ALL the same things dear as the senator, but for the most part I think he’s exactly right and that sympathy damn well ought to be the order of the day following a horrific mass killing in France.
“I just think the same should apply to everywhere else on earth as well.”
– David Swanson: “Non-French War Deaths Matter” http://davidswanson.org/
“Shades of 2002 and the ghastly decision to invade Iraq.”
The Democratic presidential debate was held yesterday and in light of the Paris attacks, the candidates were asked about this.
— Sanders objected to Clinton’s line about who bore responsibility for Isis. “I don’t think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive instability that we are seeing right now,” he said.
In a possible preview of a major general election debate to come, Clinton rejected a “clash of civilizations” framework Republicans have used after the Paris attacks. “We are not at war with Islam or Muslims,” Clinton says. “We are at war with violent extremism.”
Marama Fox on The Nation:
“They have given the minister absolute power above the law to determine whether somebody has their citizenship revoked, even if they apply to be an Australian citizen…”
“So he also does not have to reveal to the court under that law or your lawyers or the prosecution why he has made that decision. So you can’t even defend yourself in a court of law. So in the case of Ko Rutene, his record has been sealed – and this is not his conviction; this is the decision of why he is now being deported – has been sealed. And that might be something, or it might be nothing, and you can’t defend it because you just don’t know.” http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/raw-data-interview-maori-party-co-leader-marama-fox-181633
Key is one of the weakest PMs NZ has ever had.
Guess that ‘s what happens when you stand for nothing and are beholden to corporate interests, lobbyists and focus groups .
There was some significant comment here in Australia when Abbott introduced these regulations, that absolute Ministerial power was going to be a recipe for this kind of problem.
However since Turnbull has become PM – well he’s got a teflon layer an inch thick and the Coalition can do no wrong. So suddenly no traction.
40 men, women and children were killed and 180 injured in a double suicide bombing in beirut 5 days ago.
where is the blanket coverage?
where is the analysis?
where are the leaders and their sabre rattling utterances?
what is the difference between this atrocity and the horror in paris?
Plenty of coverage on Al Jazeera, RT, France 24, CNN, Deutsche Welle, BBC Radio as well as the media here in the Middle East. Overwhelmed to an extent in the last day by Paris but still being covered.
Leadership of Hezbollah stated they would continue to fight Da’ish and support Assad. The Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared a day of national mourning on Friday, November 13. The Lebanese authorities have arrested five Syrians and one Palestinian, who are suspected of playing a part in the bombings.
A bomb also exploded during midday prayers at a mosque frequented by Houthi (more Shia) supporters in Yemen’s on Friday as well – killing several worshippers and wounding others. The blast took place in Shibam, a city some 40 km (25 miles) outside the capital of Sanaa that had been an area of relative calm.
Its interesting on facebook with lots of people changing their profile picture showing the French flag. Can guarantee they wouldn’t change their profile to a middle eastern country flag even though the civilian death toll has been a magnitude higher in those places.
This was reposted by David Robie on TDB, but with the original you can follow the links:
Indeed, had the victims been more “like us” than the otherized, eerie- and criminal-sounding inhabitants of Beirut’s southern suburbs where the bombings occurred — incessantly described by the sheeplike media as a “Hezbollah stronghold” or “Hezbollah bastion” — they’d have stood a much greater chance of breaking our hearts.
Hell, we might have even seen references to Beirut’s romanticized former identity as the “Paris of the Middle East.”
Following yesterday’s attacks in the Paris of Europe, meanwhile, Facebook users in the vicinity of the city were encouraged to check in as “safe” — an option not made available the previous day to Facebook users in Beirut
The numbers in Beirut were 43 dead (44 in above link) and 239 injured in The Guardian. But while the story was reported, it is nowhere as omnipresent as the Paris bombings. Ex-colonial powers seem to preserve notions of impunity for their actions.
Other bombings and cold-blooded executions elsewhere do get media attention, mainly in the press though, as do the local authorities’ statements denouncing the perpetrators and talking about bringing them to justice. It’s just that we don’t notice them. Once they become commonplace they fall off the front page, unless they’re happing somewhere they’re not normal (Bangkok, Thailand) or are so novel or extreme in some way they make headlines and media interest remains high for a while. I watch Al Jazeera, admittedly they carry far more such items than our trashy superficial tv newsentertainsportsment. Plus we identify more closely with Western European countries so I guess attacks feel closer to home and our media coverage reflects that. We only ever get the US perspective on them though. Nobody shows the reality of the war, the casualities, the bits of people in trees and lamp posts after an aerial or suicide bombing. Very sanitised. Even Al Jazeera.
hi all above,
i had a look at those links re pakistan deaths, grim reading.
i hardly engage with tv (sports excluded), commercial radio or newspapers and i felt a little overwhelmed by the reaction.
watching the nz vs oz cricket test,
there was an ad for a ‘news’ special-“a world on edge”.
good grief!
Will Labour’s new sugar policy run foul of the TPP?
Sugar is largely used in processed foods to enhance flavour or as a preservative with the expectation the improved flavor and extended shelf life will contribute to better returns.
Therefore, Labour’s intention to put in place policy to limit sugar use may hamper company returns, resulting in them being challenged through the investor-state dispute settlement process.
The government will not be able to legislate anything under TPP without it being challenged in courts outside of NZ if someone thinks it will effect their potential profit. So of course the sugar industry will be suing the government over this one, also mining access. Likewise preferential treatment of local tenders will not be allowed under TPP – or they might be allowed – by then the government has to compensate for potential losses.
TPP is lunacy for any government to commit to, apart from absolute ‘free market’ ideologists of the far right like ACT.
TPP takes away the governments ability to govern.
And as for taxes – well look at who is not paying them in Australia. So the government is wanting to give more power to these corporates who already do not even pay any taxes, like everyone else.
The Australian Tax Office have revealed at a Senate Inquiry into corporate tax secercy laws that 1 in 5 private companies that earn over $100 million a year paid no tax in 2014.1
I found it strange Labour would announce such a contestable policy amongst the controversy over their TPP position.
It’s called policy incoherancy. It’s a symptom of a political organisation which has either given up on its values, or has no intellectual framework able to implement those values, or both.
Yes, well the policy does seem to be inconsistent with their weakening TPP positioning. However, it also seems to be an attempt to get one over National’s recent obesity policy. Which explains the rush to get it out there.
But the timing of the release, considering the controversy, was rather strange. Unless, of course, it was also required to fill their current policy void.
TPP is lunacy for any government to commit to, apart from absolute ‘free market’ ideologists of the far right like ACT.
Actually, if Act were sticking to their supposed ideology they wouldn’t support it either but they don’t. They’re as much about protecting and increasing the power and wealth of the rich as National.
@Tracy and do you think CocoCola will sue a Labour government that wants to tax sugar drinks under TPP – I think YES – if NZ puts on a sugar tax other countries will also do so and these corporations don’t want that.
Some of the corporations are bigger than some countries. Of course they will be using their legal rights GIVEN AWAY under TPP to promote their interests and stop public health laws. The tax payer picks up the tab for dentistry and health from drinking their drinks and the legal costs of the suing. LOSE LOSE for taxpayers and citizens.
“Those who regarded National’s offer to double-lane 10 one-way bridges in return for continued loyalty as a crass bribe were probably right,….
For all that it is difficult not to believe that National has learned nothing from its by-election defeat, not only in terms of Northland but provincial electorates around the country.
Ensuring that government contracts go to local businesses, assuming they are competitive and able to do the work, would seem to be a very simple way of boosting a small town’s economy,
We’re with Winston. Northland’s long-term financial future hinges upon finding meaningful work for the unemployed, and as Mr Peters keeps saying, there is plenty of work to be done. In this case the government could make a desperately needed contribution to saving what remains of our priceless natural heritage. One might have expected the Minister of Conservation to give some thought to that, given that she is presiding over what many say is an unprecedented collapse in habitat that is driving ever more native species towards extinction.
That, Ms Barry, is your bag. That is what should be keeping you awake at night.”
i have a friend who is involved in protecting our natural and ancestral culture.
To be polite, it appears that Mrs. Barry marching orders are to the contrary and many good people have and are simply resigning, and others are holding on to straws. But the impression that is gained, is that cultural and ancestral heritage are things of yesteryears bygone, and are so very very passée.
Knock down that forest, build gated McMansions on graveyards and the likes.
Nothing any of us probably didn’t know already; but it’s useful to see it written down in one place:
A new study has identified the workplace as a major cause of psychological and physical ill-health. From long hours to economic insecurity, our jobs could literally be killing us. So what practices lead to a healthy workplace?
I wonder where high octane, demanding and/or bullying bosses fit on the Health and Safety scale.
I know a small organisation which has a new CEO. This person is high octane and frenetic and demanding. Is never wrong and therefore has to blame others. In 6 weeks the small staff have become highly stressed, tired, and are now making more mistakes…
I note ACC doesn’t cover “stress, hurt feelings, loss of enjoyment or other emotional issues (these may be covered if these are the direct result of a physical injury or sexual abuse)”
Yes. Clearly. And only a few weeks after his military bombed Medecines Sans Frontiere and he initially denied it… innocent civillians died. Unless that is the definition of civilised in the USA?
I’ve stopped listening to him. He has no real credibility on most things any more. Obamacare maybe yes, but certainly not on anything to do with international relations or Israel/Palestine, or any of the activities of his forces, or his foreign policies. He just sounds like a front man for the usual corporate interests that seem to dominate American politics and presidents. His hyprocrisy makes me wince every bit as much as GW Bush’s did.
Israeli Soldiers Open Fire On Palestinian Farmers In Gaza
Thursday November 12, 2015
Israeli soldiers, stationed across the border fence, fired dozens of rounds of live ammunition on Palestinian farmers, working in their lands close to the border fence, east of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers, some on military towers and others in armored vehicles, fired dozens of live rounds, and smoke bombs, at the farmers in their own lands, causing damage but no injuries.
The farmers left their lands fearing additional Israeli military escalation.
The Israeli army frequently attacks farmers and workers in Palestinian lands close to the border fence, and fishers in Gaza territorial waters; the attacks led to dozens of casualties, including fatalities.
Documents submitted to the Senate corporate tax avoidance inquiry by the International Transport Federation reveal Chevron paid just $248 tax on $1.7 billion profit made in Australia last year.
The Australian Tax Office have revealed at a Senate Inquiry into corporate tax secercy laws that 1 in 5 private companies that earn over $100 million a year paid no tax in 2014.1
Incredibly, the Government just passed legislation in parliament that makes the tax details of all private companies earning over $100 million a year secret.
Corporate tax dodging isn’t a victimless scheme. Our schools and hospitals miss out on the funding they need, meaning familes miss out on the quality services they rely on for a brighter future.
Join the campaign to demand all corporations pay the tax they should: http://bit.ly/1WLMEaw
“The recently-announced proposal not to renew TV3’s flagship current affairs show 3D is now subject to fierce resistance from the show’s journalists, who have assembled a legal team to work on a challenge to the way employment process was conducted.
The Spinoff can reveal that 3D‘s journalists have called on lawyers, forensic accountants and employment experts to help build a case that proper processes weren’t followed, and are in a dialogue with the channel’s Human Resources department.
“If Weldon thinks he can take on a room full of investigative journalists and they’re just going to roll over, he’s very much mistaken,” says a source privy to the situation. …”
David Fisher has published that piece about the ex senior police officer who was “stunned” at the handling of the Slater gripe.
“A spokesman for police headquarters said it was not unusual for national headquarters staff to be sent complaints.” Oh really? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11546041
Who else is disgusted by Obama, Kerry and Clinton’s bloviating?
Surely nobody believes a word of what these terrorists say.
U.S. leaders are suddenly pretending they don’t like terrorism. If they were serious, this is what they would have said about some recent events…..
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: “The killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not just on Gaza, not just on the Occupied West Bank, not just on Iraq, not just on Afghanistan, not just on Yemen, but it is an attack on the civilized world.”
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: “I want to make sure that it is absolutely crystal clear that the United States stands with the people of the Occupied Territories and the rest of the world in our resolve to eliminate the scourge of violent extremist groups from the face of the Earth.”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Our prayers are with the people of Afghanistan tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical imperialist ideology that motivates organizations like the U.S. military, a barbaric, ruthless, violent terrorist group.”
The French government will not support the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US as long as a controversial stipulation is included.
France, like the UK and Germany, will block the trade deal all together if the mechanism of investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is included; EurActiv France reported.
The clause appears in most free trade agreements, and would leave France defenseless against foreign companies taking legal action against it if laws and legislation stunt profits.
“France did not want the ISDS to be included in the negotiation mandate,” France’s Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Matthias Fekl told the French Senate. “We have to preserve the right of the state to set and apply its own standards, to maintain the impartiality of the justice system and to allow the people of France, and the world, to assert their values,” he added.
Due to this stumbling block, there will be no “significant advances” in the trade agreement, which has been a sour point in US-EU relations.
France earlier said it wouldn’t sign the TTIP as long as the US continued spying on EU allies.
I like this bit-” “We have to preserve the right of the state to set and apply its own standards, to maintain the impartiality of the justice system and to allow the people of France, and the world, to assert their values,”
Pity our representative ( representative? ha!) couldn’t insert the words ‘New Zealand’ where Matthias Fekl said ‘France’
Nine to Noon this morning
In the first interview, Napoleoni stopped one of Ryan’s lines by categorically dismissing as media speculation that the terrorists are Syrian refugees and warned of the dangers of such speculation.
Within minutes, in the second interview with McCant he repeats the media speculation about the terrorists being Syrian refugees, and Ryan let it pass unchallenged.
… and so the journalists continue the meme.
On questioning John Key on RNZ this evening regarding refugees, one of the journalists perpetuated the speculation that “in view of what has happened in Paris, will we be vetting potential refugees to New Zealand more stringently…”
TV3 The Story. The devious Simon Lusk was on tonight in an interview with Garner.
Remember Dirty Tricks and the influence of Lusk in getting some MPs in and some out. He says that he was behind Stuart Nash who was planning on leaving Labour and starting a new party. Truth or Fantasy???
Nash has openly confirmed in the past that a group of local businessmen in Napier had approached him to start a new party before the last election. He turned it down.
“Thom goes over the basics of what global warming is, what’s causing it, and how we can stop it with climate scientist Michael Mann, author of the book “Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change.”
( a bloody good educational from a top professor on Climate Change)
“It is clear that life has changed FOREVER.”
Kiwis insulted by clichéd and ill-informed coverage of Paris atrocities
“And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel.”
—-Elvis Costello
8 a.m. news, RNZ National, Sunday 15 November 2015
The commentary on Radio NZ, whether by journalists or by random people approached in the street, was banal. This is Hannah Smellie, a New Zealander in Paris: “It’s just really surreal. There’s not many happy faces around.”
Banality, however, is forgivable. What is not forgivable was the moronic fare being served up on commercial radio. I switched from RNZ National to NewstalkZB, just at the end of an editorial by the host Andrew Dickens….
NewstalkZB, 8:08 a.m. ….
ANDREW DICKENS: The French, too, must be PARTICULARLY fearful that they are being targeted by these animals. ISIS is now Public Enemy Number One with François Hollande vowing to be RUTHLESS and PITILESS in his response. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that life has changed FOREVER.
After his sophomoric little homily, Dickens interviewed the station’s Paris correspondent Katherine Field, who (as usual) had nothing at all interesting to say, except to note that these were “kamikaze attacks on soft targets.” As bad as Dickens and Field are, there was worse to come. Far worse….
ANDREW DICKENS: Our special will continue after 9 o’clock for an hour, with MIKE HOSKING. Then after ten, Tim Wilson will speak to security expert Paul Buchanan. I’ve got a text here from someone: “I would have thought the flags on the Harbour Bridge would be at half mast, but they are not.”
A gang of armed jihadis could not have made me listen to Hosking vaporing on for an hour on this subject. And Tim Wilson, though far more intelligent and thoughtful than the likes of Dickens or Hosking, seems determined to dumb himself down to their level, so I wasn’t really hopeful that his interview after 10 o’clock with Paul Buchanan, who DOES command respect, would be worth listening to.
I didn’t tune in again until 11:15, just in time to hear Paul Buchanan say: “Blaming Obama for this is specious and partisan.” A caller named Peter, who described himself as “a rural caller”, said: “A Muslim centre has popped up near where I live. And I don’t feel that good about it.”
A few minutes later, another caller, also identifying himself as “rural”, took a much harder, intolerant tone. “It’s time,” he growled, “that we stopped Islamics coming into the country.”
Tim Wilson, who throughout didn’t seem to have much idea, ditched his usual flippant tone and spoke in a deliberate manner, obviously designed to show how serious and sincere he was. “We want to understand the MEANING of these attacks, just why these young men become radicalized.”
I’m sure Paul Buchanan said something intelligent at some point, but considering he had consented to swim in a sea of ignorance, I doubt many people had the patience to wait for it. I turned it off, and I’m sure most others did too, except for the terminally braindead, the lonely, the depressed and ACT voters.
Television, of course, was just as bad. No wonder, when you see who’s involved….
Television One news, Monday 16 November 2015, 6:50 p.m.
SIMON DALLOW:[sombrely] And after the weather it’s Seven Sharp. [He addresses host Mike Hosking directly] Of course you’re going back to Paris, to show solidarity.
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Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...
The latest Safety of Children in Care report reveals the scale of the challenge facing social workers as they act to better protect children / tamariki and young people / rangatahi in Oranga Tamariki in the system. While the statistics ...
The next round of proposed Arms Act Amendments will further alienate law abiding firearms licence holders from the Government, according to the NZ Outdoors Party. ...
The current law for dividing property on separation is out of date and in need of reform, the Law Commission concludes in its report, Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 – Te Arotake i te Property (Relationships) Act 1976 ...
First National Real Estate Chief Executive Bob Brereton is predicting that homes currently being built as part of a KiwiBuild development, in Te Kauwhata, will not sell and that the Government will be left with 175 homes and few, if ...
A short time ago, kaumatua and kuia representing mana whenua from Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Ākitai Waiohua, and Tainui, walked onto the land that Fletcher Building owns at Ōruarangi Road, known as Ihumātao, and asked protestors to leave. ...
The Greenpeace climb of the Majestic Tower in Wellington is ignorant grandstanding says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). ...
Tuesday, July 23: The two Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have unfurled the first of a series of banners. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer's decision to fire three warning shots to stop a fleeing driver from reversing towards him was not justified. ...
Government figures out today are consistent with what working people have told the Council of Trade Unions in our own survey, that a significant group of working Kiwis are unhappy and dissatisfied at work. Now the Government must act to ...
Deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler has today announced the outcome of an examination of what led Inland Revenue to commission a public poll that included a question about the political leanings of taxpayers. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Tracey Martin for wasting money on a meaningless “translation” of a written press statement into a sign language video, when the vast majority of any deaf or hard-of-hearing persons are perfectly capable of reading ...
Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust (Te Mana) and Tūhourangi Tribal Authority (TTA) have announced that they will jointly negotiate with the Crown for the return of the lands at Waimangu and Otūkapuarangi. These lands have been at the centre ...
Government documents reveal the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) approved a shipment of cattle last month, despite the Government announcing a review into live export five days earlier. ...
“The Government’s second round of firearms reforms has hunters concerned that they will be burdened with onerous and unnecessary compliance and costs,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) are concerned at the statements by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Minister Stuart Nash at the Post-Cabinet Press Conference this afternoon stating that firearm ownership and licences should ...
National’s Climate Change spokesperson Todd Muller told Q+A he has “total confidence” that technology will be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change. “To simply take the New Zealand agriculture sector which is the most emissions efficient ...
PM can’t say whether the Government will meet its KiwiBuild goals. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern couldn’t say whether the Government would meet its goal of building 16-thousand KiwiBuild homes by the end of its first term. She was interviewed on ...
Greenpeace climbers are scaling the outside of the Majestic Centre, the tallest building in Wellington, to reach the headquarters of Austrian oil giant, OMV. ...
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...
Announcement today by the Prime Minister of further gun law reform is being shrouded by fear, so that scrutiny of the law is seen as an affront to the victims of the horror attack in March. The Prime Minister acknowledged ...
Misgivings about the practicality and cost of a firearms register is likely to dominate feedback from rural areas on the second round of proposed Arms Act amendments, Federated Farmers says. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ organisers Sophie Handford and Raven Maeder delivered a clear message to over 600 local government mayors, chairs, chief executives and councillors at the recent LGNZ conference : make climate change a priority. ...
The Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai backs the government’s emphasis on public safety as the driver of its second tranche of amendments to New Zealand’s firearms law, announced today. ...
The growing housing shortage crisis about more than supply and demand- it is about inequity. Recently released analysis by Kiwibank shows that last year’s “severe” shortage of housing has worsened, with the shortfall growing from 100,000 to 130,0000 ...
One of the country’s largest district health boards has a severe shortage of hospital specialists, says the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is joining opposition to possible regulations on the strength of nicotine vaping liquid. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government would certainly benefit from regulations on the strength ...
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) is calling for significant changes to the Zero Carbon Bill with a new analysis using the Government’s preferred modelling indicating that the proposed methane targets are excessive if all other gases go to net zero. ...
Victoria University Feminist Organisation and ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa, in conjunction with the VUW Feminist Law Students, Organise Aotearoa, Fem Force, and with the support of VUW Student Association announced they are sponsoring a march ...
With the Government's firearm buyback scheme starting to draw over 30,000 police man hours away from fighting crime, the safety of law abiding citizens is being compromised. ...
Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch is calling on the sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili to be put on hold pending an approach to the Government by Westland Milk for funding assistance. ...
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa seems intent on ensuring the Government’s vaping legislation will heavily target flavours and nicotine levels – a move that would be completely counterproductive to helping Kiwis quit smoking and achieving ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...
Hundreds of people marched to Parliament today calling for reform of New Zealand's abortion laws, as Cabinet prepares to consider a bill that would remove abortion from the Crimes Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The two Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will often be pivotal to the fate of government legislation. The smaller non-Green Senate crossbench ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Australian authorities have been told to stop interfering in the case of the Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun who has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...
The Greens may have achieved their sought-after mainstream credibility, and scored some wins in government, but commentators warn this will not necessarily result in more votes. On the contrary – it might even result in a loss of enthusiasm from ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe supposed end of the 20-year standoff between environmentalists and farmers was announced last week, with the release of the Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on “Action on agricultural emissions”. It was celebrated as an “historic consensus” ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentGovernment Joseph Nunweek (Spinoff): Jacinda Ardern and bringing the ...
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Questions about political leanings in surveys by Inland Revenue, DOC and Stats NZ were inappropriate and had the potential to undermine political neutrality, a report has found. ...
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says he cannot understand why the previous government ever accepted Ngāpuhi's problematic Tūhoronuku mandate. ...
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...
A nightmarish and near-fatal high-speed pursuit of a New Zealand Chinese family concluded with a judge rejecting the prosecution’s request for hate crime sentencing. Tze Ming Mok discusses why New Zealand’s approach to hate crime is utterly useless.I don’t like ...
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stopped short of committing to a declaration of climate emergency in Parliament, despite again saying she supports such a move. ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University A key element in the success of countering terrorism in Australia has been a series of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...
Almost as soon as it was announced, the Royal Commission tasked with probing the lead-up and response to the terrorist attacks in March attracted criticism, both over the process and its engagement with Muslim groups. Former race relations commissioner Joris ...
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend.News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely ...
Joseph Nunweek joins the adoring throngs gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to watch the New Zealand prime minister. The warm feeling is contagious, but a question hangs in the airThursday, 18 July: a big night for New Zealanders in ...
Open mike 16/11/2015 
Open mike is your post.
My idealistic position on the role of MPs was articulated by Edmund Burke: ‘Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.’read more ...43 mins ago
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled on the pillage of swamp kauri, stating clearly that export was forbidden unless it had been clearly turned into a finished product. But less than a month later, MPI was again approving minimally carved ...4 hours ago
Having spent the last 3 months in these countries and getting some appreciation of their dependence on fossil fuels – oil, gas, coal – one realises how loopy is the idea popular in societies like New Zealand that have negligible ...9 hours ago
I have been unimpressed with Western corporate media coverage of the tensions involving Iran in the Straits of Hormuz. They repeat the line that Iran is the source of current tensions, that it is a major sponsor of terrorism, that ...2 days ago
2 days ago
2 days ago
Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...3 days ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...3 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...3 days ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...4 days ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...6 days ago
6 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 week ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 week ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...1 day ago
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...3 hours ago
The House: Youth MPs have laid down another climate challenge to their real counterparts in the form of an open letter. ...52 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...1 hour ago
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...3 hours ago
4 hours ago
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...4 hours ago
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...5 hours ago
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...6 hours ago
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...7 hours ago
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...7 hours ago
Mistakes happen but this one was a biggy, and a lack of proactive correction did not look good for the Government. ...7 hours ago
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...8 hours ago
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...9 hours ago
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...10 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will Rifkin, Chair in Applied Regional Economics and Director, Hunter Research Foundation Centre, University of Newcastle News of evacuations from cracked apartment buildings in Sydney and the need to replace combustible cladding ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...12 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...13 hours ago
Fraser Newman tells of opening Atlantis Books in Rotorua and Tokoroa – and having to close shop in Whakatāne. ...14 hours ago
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...14 hours ago
As NZ Bird Rescue cares for record numbers of ruru/morepork at Auckland, one theory is they're being poisoned. ...14 hours ago
A swamp kauri log exported to China sparked deep discussion among forestry public servants over what is art and what is a log. ...14 hours ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell shakes her head at the state of our health system, urging MPs to take their duties seriously. ...14 hours ago
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...14 hours ago
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend.News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely ...15 hours ago
Noeline Taurua is the coach who took the World Cup winning Silver Ferns from netball duds to darlings in just 11 months. ...15 hours ago
” “This is not just an attack on the French people, it is an attack on human decency and all things that we hold dear,” says U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. I’m not sure I hold ALL the same things dear as the senator, but for the most part I think he’s exactly right and that sympathy damn well ought to be the order of the day following a horrific mass killing in France.
“I just think the same should apply to everywhere else on earth as well.”
– David Swanson: “Non-French War Deaths Matter” http://davidswanson.org/
The MSM already framing the story in a dangerous manner.
They are failing to discuss reasons and causes of the event.
Shades of 2002 and the ghastly decision to invade Iraq.
Who benefits from chaos and perpetual war?
Clue: they are meeting in Wellington this week.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1511/S00043/wellington-community-prepares-for-weapons-conference-protest.htm
“Shades of 2002 and the ghastly decision to invade Iraq.”
The Democratic presidential debate was held yesterday and in light of the Paris attacks, the candidates were asked about this.
— Sanders objected to Clinton’s line about who bore responsibility for Isis. “I don’t think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive instability that we are seeing right now,” he said.
In a possible preview of a major general election debate to come, Clinton rejected a “clash of civilizations” framework Republicans have used after the Paris attacks. “We are not at war with Islam or Muslims,” Clinton says. “We are at war with violent extremism.”
(Scroll to the beginning to see those specific qs-&-a s. ) http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2015/nov/14/democratic-presidential-debate-live-cbs-terrorism-paris-attacks
The military industrial complex.
+100 Manuka AOR…a tragedy for the people of Paris and France
…but there have been many many tragedies in the last few years, especially in the Middle East…and these have tended to be brushed over and forgotten.
Like the bomb on the airplane headed to Russia….
It’s a race to the bottom people
https://twitter.com/Ellipsister/status/665844544907276288/photo/1
We see major coverage of these happenings when they happen in friendly countries but almost none when they happen to the other.
Marama Fox on The Nation:
“They have given the minister absolute power above the law to determine whether somebody has their citizenship revoked, even if they apply to be an Australian citizen…”
“So he also does not have to reveal to the court under that law or your lawyers or the prosecution why he has made that decision. So you can’t even defend yourself in a court of law. So in the case of Ko Rutene, his record has been sealed – and this is not his conviction; this is the decision of why he is now being deported – has been sealed. And that might be something, or it might be nothing, and you can’t defend it because you just don’t know.” http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/raw-data-interview-maori-party-co-leader-marama-fox-181633
Tie me kangaroo court down john, tie me etc etc
Key is one of the weakest PMs NZ has ever had.
Guess that ‘s what happens when you stand for nothing and are beholden to corporate interests, lobbyists and focus groups .
+100 Paul…and the Maori Party would have more mana and respect if it did not give jonkey nact support
Isn’t that dictatorship?
Australia a dictatorship?
Actions speak louder than words
There was some significant comment here in Australia when Abbott introduced these regulations, that absolute Ministerial power was going to be a recipe for this kind of problem.
However since Turnbull has become PM – well he’s got a teflon layer an inch thick and the Coalition can do no wrong. So suddenly no traction.
40 men, women and children were killed and 180 injured in a double suicide bombing in beirut 5 days ago.
where is the blanket coverage?
where is the analysis?
where are the leaders and their sabre rattling utterances?
what is the difference between this atrocity and the horror in paris?
More than 35,000 people have been killed by terrorist attacks in Pakistan since 2001; this year so far, 287 civilians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist_incidents_in_Pakistan_in_2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_Pakistan_since_2001
And then there are the drone strikes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_strikes_in_Pakistan
Depends on what sources of news you are using.
Plenty of coverage on Al Jazeera, RT, France 24, CNN, Deutsche Welle, BBC Radio as well as the media here in the Middle East. Overwhelmed to an extent in the last day by Paris but still being covered.
Leadership of Hezbollah stated they would continue to fight Da’ish and support Assad. The Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared a day of national mourning on Friday, November 13. The Lebanese authorities have arrested five Syrians and one Palestinian, who are suspected of playing a part in the bombings.
A bomb also exploded during midday prayers at a mosque frequented by Houthi (more Shia) supporters in Yemen’s on Friday as well – killing several worshippers and wounding others. The blast took place in Shibam, a city some 40 km (25 miles) outside the capital of Sanaa that had been an area of relative calm.
Lebanon is not a Nato ally.
Its interesting on facebook with lots of people changing their profile picture showing the French flag. Can guarantee they wouldn’t change their profile to a middle eastern country flag even though the civilian death toll has been a magnitude higher in those places.
G20 had a minutes silence for the victims in Paris and Turkey…
Perhaps they realised if they read the whole list they would never get down to thebusiness of making money?
This was reposted by David Robie on TDB, but with the original you can follow the links:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Beirut-and-Paris-A-Tale-of-Two-Terror-Attacks-20151114-0016.html
The numbers in Beirut were 43 dead (44 in above link) and 239 injured in The Guardian. But while the story was reported, it is nowhere as omnipresent as the Paris bombings. Ex-colonial powers seem to preserve notions of impunity for their actions.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/12/beirut-bombings-kill-at-least-20-lebanon
Other bombings and cold-blooded executions elsewhere do get media attention, mainly in the press though, as do the local authorities’ statements denouncing the perpetrators and talking about bringing them to justice. It’s just that we don’t notice them. Once they become commonplace they fall off the front page, unless they’re happing somewhere they’re not normal (Bangkok, Thailand) or are so novel or extreme in some way they make headlines and media interest remains high for a while. I watch Al Jazeera, admittedly they carry far more such items than our trashy superficial tv newsentertainsportsment. Plus we identify more closely with Western European countries so I guess attacks feel closer to home and our media coverage reflects that. We only ever get the US perspective on them though. Nobody shows the reality of the war, the casualities, the bits of people in trees and lamp posts after an aerial or suicide bombing. Very sanitised. Even Al Jazeera.
hi all above,
i had a look at those links re pakistan deaths, grim reading.
i hardly engage with tv (sports excluded), commercial radio or newspapers and i felt a little overwhelmed by the reaction.
watching the nz vs oz cricket test,
there was an ad for a ‘news’ special-“a world on edge”.
good grief!
Will Labour’s new sugar policy run foul of the TPP?
Sugar is largely used in processed foods to enhance flavour or as a preservative with the expectation the improved flavor and extended shelf life will contribute to better returns.
Therefore, Labour’s intention to put in place policy to limit sugar use may hamper company returns, resulting in them being challenged through the investor-state dispute settlement process.
Thoughts?
The government will not be able to legislate anything under TPP without it being challenged in courts outside of NZ if someone thinks it will effect their potential profit. So of course the sugar industry will be suing the government over this one, also mining access. Likewise preferential treatment of local tenders will not be allowed under TPP – or they might be allowed – by then the government has to compensate for potential losses.
TPP is lunacy for any government to commit to, apart from absolute ‘free market’ ideologists of the far right like ACT.
TPP takes away the governments ability to govern.
And as for taxes – well look at who is not paying them in Australia. So the government is wanting to give more power to these corporates who already do not even pay any taxes, like everyone else.
The Australian Tax Office have revealed at a Senate Inquiry into corporate tax secercy laws that 1 in 5 private companies that earn over $100 million a year paid no tax in 2014.1
Incredibly, the Government just passed legislation in parliament that makes the tax details of all private companies earning over $100 million a year secret.
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/corporate-tax/corporate-tax-dodging/crack-down-on-tax-dodging?t=4Qtntjq
I found it strange Labour would announce such a contestable policy amongst the controversy over their TPP position.
I see there is a big role for NZ lawyers in international dispute resolution being predicted.
http://www.lawsociety.org.nz/lawtalk/issue-872/big-role-for-nz-lawyers-in-international-dispute-resolution-predicted
It’s called policy incoherancy. It’s a symptom of a political organisation which has either given up on its values, or has no intellectual framework able to implement those values, or both.
Yes, well the policy does seem to be inconsistent with their weakening TPP positioning. However, it also seems to be an attempt to get one over National’s recent obesity policy. Which explains the rush to get it out there.
But the timing of the release, considering the controversy, was rather strange. Unless, of course, it was also required to fill their current policy void.
Actually, if Act were sticking to their supposed ideology they wouldn’t support it either but they don’t. They’re as much about protecting and increasing the power and wealth of the rich as National.
In INternatiional food company terms who is the “sugar” industry? Coca Cola?
“Coca-Cola’s $35.1 billion in revenue makes it the 84th largest economy in the world, just ahead of Costa Rica”
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/facts-about-coca-cola-2011-6#coke-makes-so-many-different-beverages-that-if-you-drank-one-per-day-it-would-take-you-over-9-years-to-try-them-all-2
@Tracy and do you think CocoCola will sue a Labour government that wants to tax sugar drinks under TPP – I think YES – if NZ puts on a sugar tax other countries will also do so and these corporations don’t want that.
Some of the corporations are bigger than some countries. Of course they will be using their legal rights GIVEN AWAY under TPP to promote their interests and stop public health laws. The tax payer picks up the tab for dentistry and health from drinking their drinks and the legal costs of the suing. LOSE LOSE for taxpayers and citizens.
Big industry players and the challenge they pose would explain why Labour are initially hoping the industry will voluntarily reduce its use.
I agree…
“Voluntarily reduce use” is a cop out!
Why on earth would they under TPP?
They will look to ramp UP use.
I think you might be missing some sarcasm in some responses… certainly mine.
Award winning editor of the Northland Age hits out at lack of Government support for the Far North.
Peter Jackson is usually expected to be ever so slightly right leaning…..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=11542836
“Those who regarded National’s offer to double-lane 10 one-way bridges in return for continued loyalty as a crass bribe were probably right,….
For all that it is difficult not to believe that National has learned nothing from its by-election defeat, not only in terms of Northland but provincial electorates around the country.
Ensuring that government contracts go to local businesses, assuming they are competitive and able to do the work, would seem to be a very simple way of boosting a small town’s economy,
We’re with Winston. Northland’s long-term financial future hinges upon finding meaningful work for the unemployed, and as Mr Peters keeps saying, there is plenty of work to be done. In this case the government could make a desperately needed contribution to saving what remains of our priceless natural heritage. One might have expected the Minister of Conservation to give some thought to that, given that she is presiding over what many say is an unprecedented collapse in habitat that is driving ever more native species towards extinction.
That, Ms Barry, is your bag. That is what should be keeping you awake at night.”
i have a friend who is involved in protecting our natural and ancestral culture.
To be polite, it appears that Mrs. Barry marching orders are to the contrary and many good people have and are simply resigning, and others are holding on to straws. But the impression that is gained, is that cultural and ancestral heritage are things of yesteryears bygone, and are so very very passée.
Knock down that forest, build gated McMansions on graveyards and the likes.
And charge people a dollar fifty to see-um.
Neo Liberalism has one of its tenets to reduce the size of government, and this Government is doing that through staff reduction…
Nothing any of us probably didn’t know already; but it’s useful to see it written down in one place:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/workplace-stress-unhealthy-secondhand-smoke-pfeffer/6927786
I wonder where high octane, demanding and/or bullying bosses fit on the Health and Safety scale.
I know a small organisation which has a new CEO. This person is high octane and frenetic and demanding. Is never wrong and therefore has to blame others. In 6 weeks the small staff have become highly stressed, tired, and are now making more mistakes…
Do these help? They’re on MBIE’s New Zealand At Work pages
http://employment.govt.nz/er/services/law/case/themes/2006-03-workplace-stress.asp
http://employment.govt.nz/er/services/law/case/themes/2009-12-workplace-stress.asp
I note ACC doesn’t cover “stress, hurt feelings, loss of enjoyment or other emotional issues (these may be covered if these are the direct result of a physical injury or sexual abuse)”
Thanks gringlebottom
May I ask why gringlebottom?
Yes, of course you may, but you won’t get the answer, and its grindlebottom. 🙂
oops, sorry at misspelling. Fair enough.
Oh my, I just googled grindle.
President Obama speaks out: “An attack on the civilized world”
Monday 16 November 2015
Still waiting for any comment from this paragon of civilization re the following attacks on the civilized world….
1.) Attacking Kunduz Hospital just last month….
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/06/why-bombing-kunduz-hospital-was-probably-a-war-crime/
2.) Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, every single day….
http://www.imemc.org/newswire/israeliattacks
3.) Fallujah Hospital, 2004….
http://www.internationalist.org/fallujarape0412.html
4.) On-going murder of Yemeni civilians by remote-controlled aircraft…..
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-yemen/
5.) U.S. troops running amok in Afghanistan….
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/09/afgh-s10.html
does he believe the rest of the world is not civilized?
Sometimes i think the more educated they are the dumber they get.
He’s the world’s worst terrorist. He’s prepared to say anything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization
It seems to be an aspect of Western civilisation in that they refuse to accept anything else as being civilised.
Yes. Clearly. And only a few weeks after his military bombed Medecines Sans Frontiere and he initially denied it… innocent civillians died. Unless that is the definition of civilised in the USA?
I’ve stopped listening to him. He has no real credibility on most things any more. Obamacare maybe yes, but certainly not on anything to do with international relations or Israel/Palestine, or any of the activities of his forces, or his foreign policies. He just sounds like a front man for the usual corporate interests that seem to dominate American politics and presidents. His hyprocrisy makes me wince every bit as much as GW Bush’s did.
Israeli Soldiers Open Fire On Palestinian Farmers In Gaza
Thursday November 12, 2015
Israeli soldiers, stationed across the border fence, fired dozens of rounds of live ammunition on Palestinian farmers, working in their lands close to the border fence, east of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers, some on military towers and others in armored vehicles, fired dozens of live rounds, and smoke bombs, at the farmers in their own lands, causing damage but no injuries.
The farmers left their lands fearing additional Israeli military escalation.
The Israeli army frequently attacks farmers and workers in Palestinian lands close to the border fence, and fishers in Gaza territorial waters; the attacks led to dozens of casualties, including fatalities.
http://www.imemc.org/article/73823
What they really think.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTZbBCKUcAEZlGs.jpg:large
in the meantime Erdogan is waging war against the Kurds.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60651
i
CORPORATE WELFARE STRIKES AGAIN
Documents submitted to the Senate corporate tax avoidance inquiry by the International Transport Federation reveal Chevron paid just $248 tax on $1.7 billion profit made in Australia last year.
The Australian Tax Office have revealed at a Senate Inquiry into corporate tax secercy laws that 1 in 5 private companies that earn over $100 million a year paid no tax in 2014.1
Incredibly, the Government just passed legislation in parliament that makes the tax details of all private companies earning over $100 million a year secret.
Corporate tax dodging isn’t a victimless scheme. Our schools and hospitals miss out on the funding they need, meaning familes miss out on the quality services they rely on for a brighter future.
Join the campaign to demand all corporations pay the tax they should: http://bit.ly/1WLMEaw
It looks like Mediaworks have bitten off more than they expected on the 3D programme possible cancellation/non-renewal.
https://t.co/8W5SzcmVlg
“The recently-announced proposal not to renew TV3’s flagship current affairs show 3D is now subject to fierce resistance from the show’s journalists, who have assembled a legal team to work on a challenge to the way employment process was conducted.
The Spinoff can reveal that 3D‘s journalists have called on lawyers, forensic accountants and employment experts to help build a case that proper processes weren’t followed, and are in a dialogue with the channel’s Human Resources department.
“If Weldon thinks he can take on a room full of investigative journalists and they’re just going to roll over, he’s very much mistaken,” says a source privy to the situation. …”
Weldon did it to Campbell Live.
David Fisher has published that piece about the ex senior police officer who was “stunned” at the handling of the Slater gripe.
“A spokesman for police headquarters said it was not unusual for national headquarters staff to be sent complaints.” Oh really?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11546041
And probably not unusual for them to totally ignore those complaints either.
Scoop has reached the target! Good news.
Great news 😉
Who else is disgusted by Obama, Kerry and Clinton’s bloviating?
Surely nobody believes a word of what these terrorists say.
U.S. leaders are suddenly pretending they don’t like terrorism. If they were serious, this is what they would have said about some recent events…..
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: “The killing of innocent people based on a twisted ideology is an attack not just on Gaza, not just on the Occupied West Bank, not just on Iraq, not just on Afghanistan, not just on Yemen, but it is an attack on the civilized world.”
SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: “I want to make sure that it is absolutely crystal clear that the United States stands with the people of the Occupied Territories and the rest of the world in our resolve to eliminate the scourge of violent extremist groups from the face of the Earth.”
HILLARY CLINTON: “Our prayers are with the people of Afghanistan tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical imperialist ideology that motivates organizations like the U.S. military, a barbaric, ruthless, violent terrorist group.”
What these hypocrites actually said….
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/11/15/obama_killing_of_innocent_people_based_on_twisted_ideology_is_an_attack_on_the_civilized_world.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2015-11-14/john-kerry-condemns-paris-terror-attacks
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/11/15/in-post-paris-debate-clinton-gets-religion.html
The French government will not support the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and US as long as a controversial stipulation is included.
France, like the UK and Germany, will block the trade deal all together if the mechanism of investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is included; EurActiv France reported.
The clause appears in most free trade agreements, and would leave France defenseless against foreign companies taking legal action against it if laws and legislation stunt profits.
“France did not want the ISDS to be included in the negotiation mandate,” France’s Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Matthias Fekl told the French Senate. “We have to preserve the right of the state to set and apply its own standards, to maintain the impartiality of the justice system and to allow the people of France, and the world, to assert their values,” he added.
Due to this stumbling block, there will be no “significant advances” in the trade agreement, which has been a sour point in US-EU relations.
France earlier said it wouldn’t sign the TTIP as long as the US continued spying on EU allies.
The Republic is a strong thing in France, quite a different beast from the republic of USA
I like this bit-” “We have to preserve the right of the state to set and apply its own standards, to maintain the impartiality of the justice system and to allow the people of France, and the world, to assert their values,”
Pity our representative ( representative? ha!) couldn’t insert the words ‘New Zealand’ where Matthias Fekl said ‘France’
Nine to Noon this morning
In the first interview, Napoleoni stopped one of Ryan’s lines by categorically dismissing as media speculation that the terrorists are Syrian refugees and warned of the dangers of such speculation.
Within minutes, in the second interview with McCant he repeats the media speculation about the terrorists being Syrian refugees, and Ryan let it pass unchallenged.
1. Ryan interviewed 9:15 AM. Loretta Napoleoni
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201778896/terror-networking-and-finance-expert-on-paris-attacks
2. Ryan interviewed Will McCant
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201778897/how-will-europe-respond
It appears Ryan was caught out this morning, for the sake of maintaining her prepared questions and her storyline.
… and so the journalists continue the meme.
On questioning John Key on RNZ this evening regarding refugees, one of the journalists perpetuated the speculation that “in view of what has happened in Paris, will we be vetting potential refugees to New Zealand more stringently…”
TV3 The Story. The devious Simon Lusk was on tonight in an interview with Garner.
Remember Dirty Tricks and the influence of Lusk in getting some MPs in and some out. He says that he was behind Stuart Nash who was planning on leaving Labour and starting a new party. Truth or Fantasy???
Garner stated that Nash confirmed it, but wouldn’t say it on camera! Nothing about Nash would surprise me after his diatribe on TDB a wee while ago!
Nash has openly confirmed in the past that a group of local businessmen in Napier had approached him to start a new party before the last election. He turned it down.
Nash would be a good fit for the Bald Brummies Party….
Everything you ever wanted to know about Climate Change ( in one hour flat) from RT’s ‘The Big Picture’
‘Understanding climate change: A conversation with Michael Mann’
https://www.rt.com/shows/big-picture/321538-global-warming-climate-change/
“Thom goes over the basics of what global warming is, what’s causing it, and how we can stop it with climate scientist Michael Mann, author of the book “Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change.”
( a bloody good educational from a top professor on Climate Change)
“It is clear that life has changed FOREVER.”
Kiwis insulted by clichéd and ill-informed coverage of Paris atrocities
“And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel.”
—-Elvis Costello
8 a.m. news, RNZ National, Sunday 15 November 2015
The commentary on Radio NZ, whether by journalists or by random people approached in the street, was banal. This is Hannah Smellie, a New Zealander in Paris: “It’s just really surreal. There’s not many happy faces around.”
Banality, however, is forgivable. What is not forgivable was the moronic fare being served up on commercial radio. I switched from RNZ National to NewstalkZB, just at the end of an editorial by the host Andrew Dickens….
NewstalkZB, 8:08 a.m. ….
ANDREW DICKENS: The French, too, must be PARTICULARLY fearful that they are being targeted by these animals. ISIS is now Public Enemy Number One with François Hollande vowing to be RUTHLESS and PITILESS in his response. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that life has changed FOREVER.
After his sophomoric little homily, Dickens interviewed the station’s Paris correspondent Katherine Field, who (as usual) had nothing at all interesting to say, except to note that these were “kamikaze attacks on soft targets.” As bad as Dickens and Field are, there was worse to come. Far worse….
ANDREW DICKENS: Our special will continue after 9 o’clock for an hour, with MIKE HOSKING. Then after ten, Tim Wilson will speak to security expert Paul Buchanan. I’ve got a text here from someone: “I would have thought the flags on the Harbour Bridge would be at half mast, but they are not.”
A gang of armed jihadis could not have made me listen to Hosking vaporing on for an hour on this subject. And Tim Wilson, though far more intelligent and thoughtful than the likes of Dickens or Hosking, seems determined to dumb himself down to their level, so I wasn’t really hopeful that his interview after 10 o’clock with Paul Buchanan, who DOES command respect, would be worth listening to.
I didn’t tune in again until 11:15, just in time to hear Paul Buchanan say: “Blaming Obama for this is specious and partisan.” A caller named Peter, who described himself as “a rural caller”, said: “A Muslim centre has popped up near where I live. And I don’t feel that good about it.”
A few minutes later, another caller, also identifying himself as “rural”, took a much harder, intolerant tone. “It’s time,” he growled, “that we stopped Islamics coming into the country.”
Tim Wilson, who throughout didn’t seem to have much idea, ditched his usual flippant tone and spoke in a deliberate manner, obviously designed to show how serious and sincere he was. “We want to understand the MEANING of these attacks, just why these young men become radicalized.”
I’m sure Paul Buchanan said something intelligent at some point, but considering he had consented to swim in a sea of ignorance, I doubt many people had the patience to wait for it. I turned it off, and I’m sure most others did too, except for the terminally braindead, the lonely, the depressed and ACT voters.
Television, of course, was just as bad. No wonder, when you see who’s involved….
Television One news, Monday 16 November 2015, 6:50 p.m.
SIMON DALLOW: [sombrely] And after the weather it’s Seven Sharp. [He addresses host Mike Hosking directly] Of course you’re going back to Paris, to show solidarity.
…ad nauseam….