A good read about the Russia/US election problem that makes a lot of good points that don’t get enough examination.
“There’s also the crucial dog that hasn’t barked: Unlike during the lead up to the Iraq War, no one from the intelligence agencies has been leaking doubts or claims that they’re being leaned on by the White House to provide the desired conclusion.”
“Trump will be assassinated” Paul Craig Roberts & Max Keiser
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts states clearly and repeatedly that if they can’t stop him becoming president they’ll kill Trump just as they did with John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley.
Fake media narratives hide the truth ……and can trick good people into making bad decisions ….
Its how National Govern
Fake news stories are individual hail-stones…… in the blizzard of inaccurcies, manipulated statistics and biased no context bull shit served up by our corporate media .
we only get one side of the story ……… and thats presented in a dishonest light.
The John Key image was built on fake news ………… ‘reported’ and repeated by either, biased, lazy or incompetent press members who print lies.
media fake news in partnership with Nationals Dirty politics WAS John Key …. Popularity by dishonesty
Exibit A) http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/573560/Key-pledges-PMs-salary-to-charity …. it reads like a press release from that swirler farrar //////
This fake news exibit pimped on the front page of the sunday times, stuff, etc ……. it sends a false “generous” image for Key ……versus the reality of a greedy multi-millionare cheat …..who made a large part of his wealth by taking money of normal, honet and poor people …..
I doubt any new zealand prime-minister, past or present ,…. or any other nz citizen ,has taken more money and wealth away from middle class and poor U.s citizen ………..
Very few reporters in NZ can hold their heads up high during the Key media mirage with a few honarble exceptions ……
But for a Heroic, brave and honest reporter I recommend this riviting and revealing movie by jerry scahill …… Dirty Wars
Look at the childrens eyes …. and reflect on the u.s “intelligence”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts states clearly and repeatedly that if they can’t stop him becoming president they’ll kill Trump…
Sure. And Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi states clearly and repeatedly that there is no god but God and that Muhammed is his prophet, but that doesn’t mean either that there is a god or that Muhammed was a prophet.
Straw men is your province, my friend. I’m just amused by your gullibility. How’s that James Clapper-led investigation into the Russian masterminds going, by the way?
Thanks reason! Jeremy Scahill, along with such other outstanding journalists as Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges, Allan Nairn and Matt Lee makes me optimistic about the future of the United States.
“And when reviewing that list of economic principles, it is instructive to consider just how much cross-party support they have received over the years.
It is true that neither of the last two governments have been particular puritan disciples of the creed. One example of this is the spending binge that characterised the end of Helen Clark’s government.
This National government has continued the questionable tradition of doling out generous subsidies to big Hollywood movie studios. While both governments sold some state assets (either wholly or partially) there is not much appetite for further privatisation.
But in the main, the essentials of New Zealand’s new economy have enjoyed a bipartisan consensus.
Whether you call it “neoliberalism” or something else, it is a framework that has served us well. Here’s hoping that this year’s election renews our commitment to responsible economic management.”
Maybe he should have stayed in bed….needs more sleep.
Whether you call it “neoliberalism” or something else, it is a framework that has served us well.
2 questions.
1.Who is ‘us’?
The owners of Fairfax media?
Alan Gibbs?
John Key?
Michael Fay?
David Richwhite?
2. How is it serving the rest of well?
High rates of imprisonment
High rates of suicide
High rates of unemployment
High rates of homelessness
High rates of water pollution
High rates of inequality
High rates of child poverty
High rates of foreign ownership
High rates of personal debt
It’s clearly labelled as opinion. A quick google shows Liam Hehir appears to be some sort of lawyer, with an occasional sideline in writing hard-right opinion pieces. He’s not a journalist, and it’s a slander on actual journalists to suggest Hehir has anything in common with real journalists.
Interesting that Liam Hehir felt comfortable using the pronoun us. Must have been describing the lawyer community. It would be interesting to know why he got selected for a regular opinion piece.
It is an editorial decision to give so many right wingers a forum to publish their opinions. It is no slander to criticise the editorial policy at Fairfax.
Liam Hehir is not an aberration. He is firmly in the tradition of third-rate, nasty and downright disgusting commentary in the Herald, a tradition underlined weekly by the likes of Kerre “ohoWmad” McIvor and Mike “Contra” Hosking.
The cosy assumption that “we” all shared his loathing of and contempt for Māori was a feature of Paul Holmes’s rants on radio, television and, yes, the New Zealand Herald. Several months before his seven-minute spittle-flecked tirade against the Secretary General of the U.N., Holmes was sure his television audience would share his “concern” about another lot of cheeky darkies—these particular lowlifes were in the Bay of Plenty. In a conspiratorial manner that the Broadcasting Standards Authority later described as “framed in a way calculated to incite moral indignation” Holmes intoned the following …
“Wait till you hear about this one. Prepare to go ballistic. We’ve had the taniwha in recent weeks, we’ve had the sand on the North Shore beach and now a mountain called Kopukairoa, in Welcome Bay, just outside of Tauranga.”
Four years ago, media luvvie Brian Edwards was incensed when I and several others had the poor taste to spoil an encomium he had written for Holmes by reminding him and his readers that Holmes was a racist….
He also appears to have a regular airing on the cetacean’s site…rather hilarious actually…judging by the few comments I managed to read before nausea overcame me…they take him seriously without fact checking.
I get your point about calling him a journalist Andre…hence the ‘journalist’.
Seems there might be a bit of a patterns to this Rosemary. ‘The Canary’ is reporting on a fair chunk of UK media framing the Oxfam report as “Poor Bill Gates”
I’m not going to bother mentioning my contention that Liberalism is in crisis and I’m not going to bother speculating that this broad consensus in reporting across a fair swathe of the msm is indicative of a “circling the wagons”. 😉
edited for the sake of accuracy And The Guardian has a couple of decent articles.
Stuffed is allowing comments….Mr. Hehir’s fan club hasn’t rounded the membership yet to bolster his premise…so far he’s being slammed for the twit that he is. Folk are asking for a definition of “works”, next thing they’ll be demanding evidence.
Mr Hehir lists the great policies of neoliberalism:
As summarised by English economist John Williamson, who coined the term, this involved governments:
*Avoiding large fiscal deficits;
* Eschewing subsidies in favour of spending on infrastructure and primary education and healthcare;
*Implementing moderate tax rates over a broader tax base;
*Allowing interest rates to be set by the market;
*Adopting a competitive exchange rate;
* Liberalising trade and not interfering with imports into the country;
* Encouraging foreign investment;
*Privatising state owned businesses;
*Eliminating regulations that restrict competition (while retaining those which protect the environment and safety); and
*Protecting legal property rights.
These policies are not a complete account of the neoliberal policy agenda. Undoubtedly the examples given above will generate some consternation from those claiming that they are only the most benign examples of what neoliberalism is all about.
of course this includes benign examples like
Eschewing subsidies in favour of spending on infrastructure and primary education and healthcare; does not include subsidising landlards, farmers, etc
* Encouraging foreign investment; which has been great for the housing situation in NZ, and for the banks, for farmland, etc
*Privatising state owned businesses;
And how we all have benefited from SOEs, from lower power prices, from the comings and goings of Kiwirail, etc
*Eliminating regulations that restrict competition (while retaining those which protect the environment and safety); and such a great safety record we have at Pike River, in forestry, and the environment has benefits from unrestricted competition in farming, etc.
*Protecting legal property rights. unless it’s land of the tangata/manu whenua… so no problem there.
So that’s the most benign of impacts of neoliberalism, then? So tell me about the less benign impacts?
The radical notion that governments should hand out free money to everyone — rich and poor, those who work and those who don’t — is slowly but surely gaining ground in Europe. Yes, you read that right: a guaranteed monthly living allowance, no strings attached.
In France, two of the seven candidates vying to represent the ruling Socialist Party in this year’s presidential election are promising modest but regular stipends to all French adults. A limited test is already underway in Finland, with other experiments planned elsewhere, including in the United States.
Called “universal income” by some, “universal basic income” or just “basic income” by others, the idea has been floated in various guises since at least the mid-19th century. After decades on the fringes of intellectual debate, it became more mainstream in 2016, with Switzerland holding a referendum ” and overwhelmingly rejecting ” a proposed basic income of around US$2,500 ($3518) per month.
“An incredible year,” says Philippe Van Parijs, a founder of the Basic Income Earth Network that lobbies for such payments. “There has been more written and said on basic income than in the whole history of mankind.”
A ubi will consign at least 10% of youth to the scrap heap, having enough % to subsist on they will rot in hovels and basements.
Governments need to create real jobs with meaning.
real jobs with meaning , for some that might be higher learning , but for others it could be killing pests , cutting tracks in forests , mining minerals on mars, young men hang one armed from skyscrapers because they have no outlet for their urge to explore.
may be difficult to provide real jobs with meaning looking ahead however there are other reasons to provide opportunities to develop…. the opportunity to learn skills or to examine areas of interest can only be beneficial both to individuals and society and helps to retain/develop a repository of those skills and knowledge….things that may well be at great risk of being lost….and that is meaningful.
If fact thinking further a UBI brings into question the role of universal formal education at every level.
Yeah interesting to see what would happen. The middle class kids at the moment spend time mucking around at uni living off their loans for 3 or 4 years. Poorer kids would be afforded a similar lifestyle under a UBI probably keeping more of them out of trouble.
when i was a lost young loon, i went on the dole by choice for a spell, the only thing that got me to go back to work was it wasn’t enough for me to eat live and support my love of partying , if it had of been a $100 dollars more i would have rotted away there for years.
hard to tell but i lack the self motivation gene and at that point was a munter of the highest order , it would have gone on beer and smokes , bloody glad p wasn’t a thing back then aswell.
“A joint Mbie-Treasury briefing to Joyce, Woodhouse and Finance Minister Bill English in December last year said 45 per cent of former international students who became skilled migrants did not have degrees, compared to only 30 per cent in 2004/05.
It added that in 2014 recent migrants held 25 per cent of accommodation and food jobs and about 18 per cent of administrative and support jobs, despite “no strong evidence of genuine skills shortages” in these industries.”
I have no problem with people coming here to contribute with skills, I have a huge problem with people coming here to work at mcdonalds.
Those people that Joyce said “…might start initially in lower-skilled jobs but they tend to move up into higher-skilled jobs over time, just like everybody else.” could have been NZ citizens that the state has supported since birth.
I just find it odd that we would let overseas students have free range in our job market, all while complaining that our citizens are unemployed. I think I know the real answer, in keeps wages low and appeases big business.
I’m a contractor in my chosen field and get payed very well for my skills when I work (health reasons mean I have to be picky). Lately I’ve felt the need to move on and try something else but can’t afford to start at the bottom again as minimum wage doesn’t cover my modest outgoings. FFS, I was earning $12/hr 27 years ago when I was a bar manager (yes, that was a good rate back then but…) The manager at my local earns $16 with 30 years experience and they have no shortage of applicants when they need new staff.
Brighter future? yeah right.
Reduce inequality and we’ll reduce this terrible statistic.
New Zealand’s suicide rate is higher than Australia’s, with twice as many of our young men killing themselves in recent years.
The study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal compared suicide rates between the nations from 1949 to 2013, with a focus on age patterns.
In the latest year bracket available, 2009 to 2013, the rate among Kiwi men aged 20 to 24 was 29.7 per 100,000 – double the rate of Australian men of the same age group.
The study, Changes in the age pattern of New Zealand suicide rates by Australian clinical professor of psychiatry John Snowdon, was based on Ministry of Health and Australian Bureau of Statistics data, and census data.
While suicide rates were similar between the nations generally, New Zealand’s rate was higher overall due to higher rates among young citizens, including a “markedly higher” suicide rate of youths.
New Zealand has continuously ranked among the worst in the world for levels of teen suicide. An OECD report published last year found we had the highest rate in the developed world.
“There must be continued concern regarding the relatively high youth suicide rate in New Zealand versus the much lower corresponding rates in Australia,” Snowdon said.
Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett researched and wrote The Spirit Level. The book argues that there are “pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption”. It claims that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal countries, whether rich or poor.
Geeze, Wayne….share with us plebs the wealth of your greater insight!
Tell me….is the Mighty Right getting a tad nervous at the moment with all this discussion about how the policies of the past thirty years have been a complete and utter failure by just about every measure one can apply?
I don’t know the reasons for NZ’s youth suicide rate being twice that of Australia.
But it seems to me that the inequality difference between the two counties will not be the reason. Both nations have a wealth spread that is very similar and is in the middle of the OECD nations. The US is much greater.
The reasons for suicide are known to be complex. Each person has their own reasons and while there will be common elements in many of them, each person makes a unique choice.
I did read today that NZ is much more unequal than Australia because the two wealthiest people in NZ had as much as the poorest 30%, whereas in Australia the two wealthiest people had the same as the poorest 20%. It is a spurious use of numbers that is hugely dependent on chance. Actually one of the two NZers does not even live here and has made all his wealth in Russia and Singapore.
A much better comparison is how much wealth the top 10% have compared to everyone else. There are many more people in the top 10% so one person can’t skew the stats. On this measure NZ and Australia are similar, with the wealthiest 10% holding as much as the lowest 50%.
I don’t know. This will probably be his last throw of the dice so I think he’ll aim for something monumental rather than playing himself for the long term.
I think if people have screwed him over at any point then they ought to be starting to feel a bit worried about how he is going to play his cards.
Jesse Jackson and John Lewis have placed party loyalty above truthfulness;
Their foolish repetition of anti-Russian lies will tarnish their legacy.
Over the last week or so, we have heard much about three men, all of them Democratic Party politicians, who have spoken out strongly against Donald Trump. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia is a legend in the civil rights community; more than fifty years ago, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Birmingham, and had his skull smashed by “law enforcement” thugs. The Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988 got 6.6 million votes in his run for the Democratic nomination; he is famous around the world for his eloquent defense of human rights. And New Jersey senator Cory Booker last week became the second senator in history to testify against one of his colleagues when, at the Senate confirmation hearing, he spoke against Trump’s unbelievable nomination for Attorney General, the racist Alabama senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
This all sounds impressive, and it’s the kind of political news that gives people hope during these dark and dread-filled days of waiting for the horrifying reality of a Ku Klux Klan-endorsed candidate reciting the Presidential oath on Friday.
On close inspection, however, these three turn out to be no more honest or trustworthy than some of their more unpleasant, less revered colleagues. This past week both Lewis and Jackson have shown that, whatever glorious and brave deeds they have performed in the past, they are first and foremost Democratic Party loyalists. And being a Democratic Party loyalist right now means that you are under intense pressure to repeat the most absurd, fantastic and lurid anti-Russian propaganda.
The other day, on NBC’s Meet the Press John Lewis, civil rights hero, lowered himself to the level of the most shameless Clinton apparatchiks as he delivered the following fantasy, which might as well have been written for him by John Dean or Debbie Wasserman Schultz….
“I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president….I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”
Equally on message, equally loyal, equally cynical is another former civil rights warrior, Jesse Jackson, who, when taunted by a Fox News troll to comment on why Hillary Clinton lost, said this:
“Well somewhere between Russian hacking and corruption and voter suppression may give you an answer.”
At a time when the United States more than ever needs people of rectitude and character to step forward and speak truthfully and fearlessly, two old civil rights warriors have thrown in the towel, and a superficially attractive young politician is exposed as just another smooth-talking fraud. Thus party politics doth make cowards of us all.
What Andre said. Also, given that Jesse Jackson and John Lewis are both black and both veteran civil rights campaigners, we don’t need to go looking for ulterior motives for their rejection of a KKK-endorsed racist for PotUS. It’s pretty insulting to them that you do look for an ulterior motive and tell yourself you’ve found one.
Also, given that Jesse Jackson and John Lewis are both black and both veteran civil rights campaigners, we don’t need to go looking for ulterior motives for their rejection of a KKK-endorsed racist for PotUS.
So why did they both parrot the bogus “Russian hacking” line? Clue: it has nothing to do with their history of civil rights campaigning, and has everything to do with their rather misguided decision to be “team players”.
It’s pretty insulting to them that you do look for an ulterior motive and tell yourself you’ve found one.
So what WAS their motivation for repeating a lie that no one with an IQ above 60 actually believes?
So why did they both parrot the bogus “Russian hacking” line?
It’s a complete, unknowable fucking mystery. Well, unless we dare entertain the counter-intuitive prospect that perhaps, just maybe, I know this will be shocking but bear with me, they might not share Morrissey’s assessment of the Russian government’s cyber-attacks on the major parties.
You really are an enthusiast for logical fallacies. Today’s one is “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” or “false in one thing, false in everything.” It’s a popular one in holocaust denial, because eye-witnesses are often wrong about various things in their testimony.
In other words, the US intelligence agencies’ investigation of Russian cyber-attacks on the US’ major parties is to be taken on its own merits, regardless of Paul’s opinions about things that happened in the early 2000s.
I read the text of the dossier on Donald Trump’s alleged dirty dealings with a scepticism that soon turned into complete disbelief. The memo has all the hallmarks of such fabrications, which is too much detail – and that detail largely uncheckable – and too many names of important people placed there to impress the reader with the sheer quantity and quality of information……….
I was correspondent in Moscow in the 1980s and again during the first years in power of Vladimir Putin. Every so often, people would tell me intriguing facts about the dark doings of the Kremlin and its complicity in various crimes, such as the infamous apartment block bombings in 1999. But my heart used to sink when the informant claimed to know too much and did not see that what they were saying contained a fatal contradiction: Putin and his people were pictured as unscrupulous and violent people, but at the same time they were childishly incapable of keeping a secret damaging to themselves.
The conclusions reached in the Trump dossier similarly claim to be based on multiple sources of information where, in the nature of things, they are unlikely to exist. The dossier cites at least seven of them. “Speaking to a trusted compatriot in June 2016 sources A and B, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry and a former top level Russian intelligence officer still active inside the Kremlin respectively, [said that] the Russian authorities had been cultivating and supporting US Republican presidential candidate, Donald TRUMP, for at least five years.”
I obviously failed as a correspondent when I was in Russia because it turns out that Moscow is choc-a-bloc with fellows in senior positions willing to blow the gaff on the Kremlin’s deep laid plans. A and B, despite achieving high rank, apparently remain touchingly naive and more than willing to make revelations that, if known, would get them imprisoned or shot in short order.
Reading the papers on Trump brought back memories of talking to Iraqi defectors in the 1990s who claimed to have plenty of information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and gossip about his family affairs. It did not take long to work out that they were making it up when they produced convincing but uncheckable details about the doings of some of the more dangerous and suspicious people in the world, with whom the defectors claimed have had frank and revealing conversations.
And back to the old favourite, “argument from authority.” This may come as a terrible shock, Paul, but Patrick Cockburn has no more idea than you or I do whether all or any of the things in that dossier are true or not.
George Galloway talks about the soft coup against Donald Trump.
Much in this talk worthy of your listening.
1. It was the British that interfered in the American election.
The dossier was complied by a British intelligence official.
The dossier was passed to the United States through an former British ambassador to Moscow, who passed it to McCain, who then passed it onto the Head of the FBI.
2. The plan is to corner him so he does not go along with plans for rapprochement with Russia.
3. Trump is at risk of assassination on his inauguration day IF he follows through with such plans.
Trevett and the Herald up to their usual obsequious manner.
This time the caretaker PM is described as ‘calm.’, ‘steady’, ‘measured’ , ‘a wee bit of balm for her (Merkel’s) soul.’
According to the sycophant Trevett, he put on ‘a good showing for New Zealand’,made ‘an impressive showing” and ‘managed to put up a convincing case for New Zealand.’.
English…… ‘a wee bit of balm for her soul.’ Even by Trevett’s bootlicking standards, that’s up there.
Read the whole article if you haven’t eaten a meal recently.
Get used to it Lefties, this is what the media is all about ( Hehir ,Trevett ,Hosking etc ) and the situation for us will worsen with an election in sight. These turkeys in the media know what side their bread is buttered on and will push hard for the status quo. Being nice to them in their twisted interviews is not going to work.
Who have we got to stand up to these bastards and tell it like it is? And don’t say Winston!
My opinions are based on listening very carefully to what people are saying and your speculation on my “agenda” is disingenuous. There is nothing “anti feminist” about my views , labeling and shutting them down is not a very productive.
The point was raised (and was relevant) that as you put it some are suggesting that “real politics is economic and women’s politics is about manners” .
my point was (and is) that that is a common perception. My challange was for you to consider how you may be contributing to that view and how you might change it. If you really need an example I would give you the Cinton campaign in the USA (which is no derailment because the march is against TRUMP) if you cannot see how the Clinton campaign contributed to the view that “real politics is economic and women’s politics is about manners” and how marching in solidarity might further promote that view then i ask you to set aside your righteous anger and look a bit deeper. (preferably before rushing to moderation). we actually both want equality and fairness, our disagreement is about what is a productive action to get there.
[The march isn’t against Trump. Reread the post. You are now banned from commenting in that post for the rest of the day for wasting moderator time and derailing the thread when asked not to. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
POST
“Women to protest Trump’s inauguration”
Moderated because
“The march isn’t against Trump. Reread the post”
Most abject apologies , boy i sure got that wrong then, have to be more careful in future!
If any of you see the march please be sure to remember that isn’t against Trump. OK?
so sorry for letting my unreconstructed assumptions and bias lead me astray there
[I will take from that that you didn’t reread the post. I’m sick of having my time wasted as a moderator, so for future reference if you do this kind of derailment again in a thread that I see I will just move the comment immediately to OM without warning, and I will probably ban you for a period of time so I don’t have to deal with this shit when I would rather be writing posts – weka]
You better be more careful. Obviously the march is against Trump’s *inauguration*, not Trump himself. It’s totally and absolutely irrelevant that it’s Donald Trump getting inaugurated. Anyone can see that.
Here's what Cheeto said after Obama was reelected. I'll just leave it here as you ponder your response options to current events this week. https://t.co/URyJ0HJUan— Harold Cook (@HCookAustin) January 16, 2017
We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012”
well if he feels like that he can either bloody well stand for president himself or shut up!
So, the clown paid Pumpkin Pinochet foundation to produce fake news has moved on to plotting the disruption of the Pumpkin Pinochet’s inauguration while in the pay of the Pumpkin Pinochet foundation.
A left-wing political group released a new video Monday of a counter-sting that has uncovered evidence of right-wing activists trying to sow chaos at Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony, an effort to portray critics of Trump who march against him as violent fringe figures.
The counter-sting, carried out by The Undercurrent and Americans Take Action, a project of a previous target of provocateur James O’Keefe, managed to surreptitiously record elements of O’Keefe’s network offering huge sums of money to progressive activists if they would disrupt the ceremony and “put a stop to the inauguration” and the related proceedings to such a degree that donors to the clandestine effort would “turn on a TV and maybe not even see Trump.” To have riots blot out coverage of Trump, the donor offered “unlimited resources,” including to shut down bridges into D.C.
It will be well worth attending any ‘meet the candidates’ events or debates in Nelson this election year. Why?
Local identity Matt Lawrey is standing for the Greens. There is no love lost between him and Nick Smith, this will be popcorn entertainment at it’s finest. Nickoff will be spitting tacks. Mr Lawrey is anti southern link an experienced Councillor and media savvy (journalist, ex lotto presenter), he has quite a following and the strength to fight Nickoff. Whether he wins or not is a different story, but he will put up a fight, Nickoff will def meet his match on the local stage.
Winston is the only viable alternative to the two neoliberal parties who portray the same ingredients as Pepsi and Coke. NZF will poll somewhere between 15-20%
Yeah i know that but i think it is improper that voters are put in a position of voting for something they dont agree with to stop something worse thereby destroying any long term chance to get what they do want.
Fuck it i will vote for the party that seems to have the best understanding of what is actually happening and the best intentions , i wont play the other game anymore. So IP it is.
I’d have some sympathy for that argument, and would probably use it myself, were it not for Climate Change. We don’t have time for that kind of long term change.
Climate change is tackling us already irrespective of state power. The politicians will follow soon enough, once the population gets antsy. Or if we have a hard crash let’s just pray we have left wing neoliberal and the Greens in power rather than a pro-fascist National govt.
So, I support people being activists to change the economic system, but I’m not waiting for the revolution. When the shit starts to hit the fan re CC, we need to be ready irrespective of whether the govt is or not.
Vote NZF and you’re effectively voting for a National government that’s less socially liberal than the current one. It depresses me that there’s a constituency for that at all, let alone one that occasionally hits 14%.
Maybe take some solace from the fact that NZF only once got close to 14% (13.3%, 7 elections ago), once got 10% (5 elections ago) and every other time has been below 8.7% (sometimes well below).
I wouldn’t be taking too much notice of their past results in this Trump era. I think its entirely possible NZ First could double their support this time and get 16%. New Zealand has become so out of whack I think we should expect some surprises.
The dumbing down of the NZ populace over the past 30 odd years has taken its toll. We may may not have sunk to the levels of ill-informedness (yes, I made the word up) that exists in America but we’re not very far behind. The blow-hards and Waitakere man and their partners will be marching to the polls to the tune of “go Winston go. We love you. Make NZ great again.”
How about this one: Rockettes issue special equipment for Trump's soon to be poorly attended & received little lowdown hoedown in DC pic.twitter.com/zAHMlUEpqt— RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) January 16, 2017
“Obama has been one of the most violent presidents. He initiated a worldwide terrorist campaign with Hellfire missiles being fired by drones at so called terrorists…certainly at weddings and funerals…in some of the poorest countries in the world.”
“What I find personally some of the most anxious and almost shameful descriptions are those from so called intellectuals in the west…writers, journalists, people in the liberal establishment who have had all the privilege that they ought to know better, fawning in sycophancy to this man who has done what he was meant to do.”
“He served the power…He was meant to serve.”
He also asserts that the ultimate ambition of hawks in Washington was regime change in Russia.
THE LEADER OF the UK’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for a “de-escalation” of tensions between NATO and Russia, adding in a BBC interview on Thursday: “I want to see a de-militarisation of the border between them.” Along with the U.S., the UK has been rapidly building up its military presence in the Baltic region, including states which border Russia, and is now about to send another 800 troops to Estonia, 500 of which will be permanently based.
In response, Russia has moved its own troops within its country near those borders, causing serious military tensions to rise among multiple nuclear-armed powers. Throughout 2016, the Russian and U.S. militaries have engaged in increasingly provocative and aggressive maneuvers against one another. This week, the U.S. began deploying 4,000 troops to Poland, “the biggest deployment of US troops in Europe since the end of the cold war.”
It was in this context that Corbyn said it is “unfortunate that troops have gone up to the border on both sides,” adding that “he wanted to see better relations between Russia, NATO and the EU.” The Labour leader explained that while Russia has engaged in serious human rights abuses both domestically and in Syria, there must be a “better relationships between both sides . . . there cannot be a return to a Cold War mentality.”
The response to Corbyn’s call for better relations and de-escalation of tensions with Moscow was swift and predictable. The armed forces minister for Britain’s right-wing government, Mike Penning, accused Corbyn of being a collaborator with the Kremlin:
“These comments suggest that the Labour leader would rather collaborate with Russian aggression than mutually support Britain’s Nato allies. As with Trident, everything Labour says and does shows that they cannot be trusted with Britain’s national security.”
For the crucial context on NATO/Russia tension that is very rarely heard in the western press , I highly recommend these two items:
(1) This Foreign Affairs article by University of Chicago political scientist John J. Mearsheimer on the west’s relentless, aggressive march eastward up to Russian borders and its consequences;
(2) The passage of this interview with Noam Chomsky by German journalist Tilo Jung – beginning at 40:30 – that explains the crucial historical context of NATO’s march eastward toward Russia, how that is perceived in Moscow, and, most important of all, why the dangers this behavior creates are incomparable:
With only days left before the inauguration of Donald Trump, it appears the intelligence community is at war with itself. Are we witnessing an attempted coup?
Thank you for your very thorough efforts to shine some light on what is going on Paul. The Left in the USA seems to have totally lost the plot, and the Right is really struggling to make any sense of anything with all its infighting over their loose cannon leader.
We have a KKK-backed candidate about to take the oath of allegiance, and unfortunately the major “opposition” party’s only tactic is to concoct, in league with the world’s most notorious perjurer, wild fantasies about Russian hacking.
It’s dispiriting to see the likes of Jesse Jackson and John Lewis succumb to the (obviously intense) pressure to fall into line with this witless campaign.
We do know how to find the Russian government’s propaganda service if we want to watch it, you know. It’s really not necessary to post all its programming to Open Mike.
A regular German host for the Kremlin-funded RT news outlets has been exposed as the editor of a neo-Nazi revisionist magazine.
Manuel Ochsenreiter, who has appeared on the English-language channel for the past four years as an expert on German and Middle Eastern affairs, is the editor of Zuerst!, a radical right-wing monthly magazine, which pledges to “serve German – not foreign – interests” and preserve “German ethnical identity” against “de-nazification”.
Zuerst!’s former publisher was the Bauer Media group, Germany’s largest magazine publisher, which came under a storm after evidence was uncovered that many of its magazines were glorifying Nazism and Adolf Hitler’s soldiers, polishing the image of the Third Reich in popular culture.
Ochsenreiter’s magazine advances an anti-immigrant stance and laments the loss of ethnic identity. It caught the attention of the Baden-Württemberg’ state office for the protection of the constitution, which said in a statement: “The publication rails against the ‘unending de-nazification effort’, spreads revisionist theories on national boundaries, and the terrorist activities of the South Tirolean Freedom Fighters in the 1960s.”
However, the German journalist is cited by RT as the “primary spokesman for the German point of view, featuring him on talk shows and extended interviews on the network scores of times over the past four years”.
What does that even mean? If they’re invited onto the Russian government’s propaganda service because their opinions are helpful to the Russian government’s interests, it doesn’t make them Russian propagandists but it would be nice if the fact they’re being invited to contribute to Russian government propaganda gave them even a moment’s thought. There’s no sign that it does.
Well, I expect their willingness to endorse Russian government propaganda has at least a little to do with it. Think of the flip side: if someone regularly appears on Voice of America because their views are helpful to the US government, how likely are independent media to regard them as reliable sources?
Former CIA presidential adviser to Regan / Bush, Ray McGovern speaks about the LIE at the Gulf of Tonkin that thrust war upon Vietnam killing 1.5 million Vietnamese, 58,000+ Americans, 424+ Australians.
Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح), called “Nurse Nayirah” in the media, was a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, who alleged that she had witnessed the murder of infant children by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait, in verbal testimony to the U.S. Congress, in the run up to the 1991 Gulf War. Her testimony, which was regarded as credible at the time, has since come to be regarded as wartime propaganda.
I know this is a difficult one for you, but you really do need to somehow wrap your head around it: no matter what instances you dig up of the US government or one of its allies peddling a propaganda lie, it doesn’t form even the semblance of an argument against RT being a Russian government propaganda service, nor any kind of argument that the people who appear on it to espouse views favourable to the Russian government are reliable authorities.
Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح), called “Nurse Nayirah” in the media, was a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, who alleged that she had witnessed the murder of infant children by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait, in verbal testimony to the U.S. Congress, in the run up to the 1991 Gulf War.
Having lived in Kuwait for a while, I find your continual parading of this example particularly loathesome. Yes, there were some Kuwaitis who were keen to get any horror story about the Iraqi invaders they could in front of western media, and were willing to lie to do it. Big whoop – you think Palestinians haven’t published any false stories about Israeli atrocities? Fact is, Iraq did invade and its soldiers did murder, torture, loot, rape and a whole lot of other stuff, all of which more than justified Kuwait’s allies destroying the invasion forces. If you think the Iraqis were the victims in that conflict, fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
I guess getting my opinions on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait from having lived there and talked to people who lived through it can’t compare with your own intensive YouTube experience, so fuck it, knock yourself out.
My views are based on independent reliable experienced journalists…. Cockburn, Pilger, Fisk, Greenwald, Chomsky and others.
Sorry, but anecdotal evidence is at the Paula Bennett level of debate.
Paul. Why do you even respond to PM? He knows rt is no more and no less a conduit for propaganda than CNN, BBC, ABC, The Times, The Guardian, Washington Post and on and on and on.
It’s just that since rt often challenges the prop we get fed and PM prefers seagulls to discerning diners as it were, rt must be subjected to squawks of condemnation.
I know that RT is essentially the same as media organisations that aren’t propaganda services of their respective governments? That’s pretty fucking low.
The BBC doesn’t promote UK ‘official’ interests. Neither does the Times, the Guardian et al. NBC, CNN, The Washington Post, NYT … these outlets don’t spin pro-US lines.
Then there’s the real world.
Are you not a part of it PM? If your going to insist on being taken seriously, then the only conclusion a thinking person could possibly tend towards from taking some of your squawking at face value, is that you’re delusional…perhaps a rabid, strangely conservative ideologue – even possibly both.
The “real world,” huh? In the real world, there’s a difference between state-funded and state-controlled. If you want a comparison service to RT, try Voice of America. The BBC et al are a different class of entity.
Nah PM. The BBC might not be subject direct dictatorial control, but only those who display the ‘correct’ attitudes and politics ever aspire to a position of power within the org. (And then there are those funding ‘strings’ – the government sets the licence fee.)
As to how RT’s editorial policy works – I have no idea. But presenter after presenter who has formerly worked for these “different class of entities” say there has never been editorial interference.
And if intelligent and critical people get 5/8ths of sfa air time on these “different class of entities”, are you saying that’s got something to do with them, rather than the “different class of entity”?
Voice of America isn’t something I’ve ever listened to or really got anything much to say about. I’ve heard of it.
Ever wondered if what the media and the government tells you should always be trusted?
This quote should alert you.
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship…
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
– Hermann Goering
Yeah, maybe fair enough. (What you reckon would have happened to any BBC TV presenter going off-script like Abby Martin did btw?) And is it the case that no journalists have quit major western msm outlets for similar reasons?
If Sara Firth is to be held up as an exemplar, then hundreds should be heading for the doors of the beeb over their Syrian coverage. Ain’t happening though, is it? Which could lead to an interesting and indepth discussion beyond this point scoring ping-pong in ever shrinking boxes.
…only those who display the ‘correct’ attitudes and politics ever aspire to a position of power within the org.
Well, yes. That’s true of any large organisation. It doesn’t make the BBC equivalent to state propaganda service.
As to how RT’s editorial policy works – I have no idea. But presenter after presenter who has formerly worked for these “different class of entities” say there has never been editorial interference.
And yet somehow, everything on this news service run by the Russian government, all the time, ever, reflects and supports the Russian government’s position. What are the odds?
Voice of America isn’t something I’ve ever listened to or really got anything much to say about.
Well, funny thing – it’s a news service run by the US government, on which everything, all the time, ever, reflects and supports the US government’s position. It sounds kind of familiar, but it’s hard to pin down exactly where from…
Provide a link to the last story TVNZ ran with prominence that went against a consensus held by those in NZ government circles. (ie – not something just being critical of the government of the day by reporting something in line the Opposition was running with)
And then give me one from the BBC that did likewise on a UK government consensus.
Something on Iraq perhaps? What about Libya? Syria? Anything?
No. You won’t find a damned thing outside of an opinion piece in a newspaper.
No ideologue would think that as anything other than right and normal mind.
It would appear this site is full of neocon armchair warriors.
Are the BBC, Guardian, the Independent. NBC, CNN, The Washington Post, NYT and al Jazeera also propaganda outlets – for the other side?
Are you able to have your worldview challenged?
Or are you close minded?
Al Jazeera certainly runs propaganda lines for the Qatari rulers and doesn’t as a rule criticise the Qatar Government over things like the Yemen War. Press TV does the same with Iran and CCTV for China.
It probably pays to have a healthy dose of skepticism with all of them – RT is noticeable for its lack of criticism of its own Government as with the others above.
I would contrast them with France 24 – another government backed TV network which actually has robust political debate on the French Government – both domestically and in foreign policy. It tends to have a much more nuanced view of Russia and foreign-affairs generally.
Indeed. A healthy dose of skepticism – not idiotic condemnation. And applied right across the board with no exceptions…unless the aim is to conjure up or reinforce a comfortable little slice of security to get an ideologue through the day.
You apply the same bar to the really existing situation whereby the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and a wheen of others uncritically reported as news the views and opinions of known terrorists when the views of those terrorists just happened to coincide with western governments’ policies of regime change?
Nah. Thought not. You believed it was actual reporting because it was coming from Aunty et al.
And many people died unnecessarily because the official line was never questioned. And people like yourself aided and abetted in the demonising and sidelining of those who had the nerve and the courage to go to the places the BBC and others wouldn’t go to when they tried to get their first hand and far more accurate message out.
Here’s one to take yourself away with. Has any western outlet reported that Nawaf al-Basheer has capitulated in Syria? Do you even know who that is or why his capitulation is so important?
Has any western media outlet bothered to go to East Aleppo and interview any of those people they claimed were going to be raped and murdered in an orgy of violence that would be unleashed by the Syrian Army? Do you even wonder why it hasn’t happened?
You apply the same bar to the really existing situation whereby the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and a wheen of others uncritically reported as news the views and opinions of known terrorists when the views of those terrorists just happened to coincide with western governments’ policies of regime change?
Well, I would, but western governments don’t really have a dog in that fight so there are no western governments’ policies for those agencies to endorse – unlike the Russian government, which is actually involved in the conflict and had its indiscriminate bombardment of east Aleppo endorsed not only by its propaganda service (well duh) but by various commenters on this blog.
Hi Bill, I provided a link to a news source (21.3.1.1) and asked Paul his opinion on what the news source said. He’s pretty free to reply and argue the news source and/or my terminology is incorrect if he wishes (you will see that he did indeed question the credibility of the news source).
As for the question I asked him – ‘is it ok if RT has a neo-nazi as an expert on Germany?’ That’s asking for his opinion. It could even be a hypothetical
But anyway – Background to the man in question – here’s his wiki profile, not in English but google translate provides the gist. I’m not linking to any of his websites, sorry. I’m sure you can find them if you wish and make your own mind up about his political orientation, especially given his writing and editing for publications labelled “extreme-right” in Germany
So from what I can gather from a quick ‘once over’, he’s a chauvinistic nationalist (like Le Pen or Farage), but unlike those two politicians he has no public power beyond his influence as a journalist/writer/commentator.
As far as oxygen goes, do you reckon his (to me) fairly reactionary views get granted more or less air time by RT than say Farage’s get on the BBC and other UK mainstream media outlets?
I’ve never seen the guy or heard of him before, so I’m asking – does RT interview him on stuff he claims knowledge of – such as middle east politics, or do they grant him a platform for (say) proselytising xenophobia?
Beyond Ochsenreiter, is the suggestion that hosts or interviewees be vetted in order that they pass a “correctness” test? That’s a very…I mean that road stinks to such high heavens I’m not even going close to it to see how slippery it might be.
Awarding airtime to (say) uncritically push reactionary right wing tosh, is one thing. Awarding airtime to someone with knowledge of (say) the Middle East who happens to be a reactionary right wing toss pot is another.
I quite like the guy , be a good few votes in him for labour, the greens will just have to get out there and make sure they get enough votes to pull labour left.
Gawd NO NO NO NO
thats unbeliveable stupid , stupid
If thats true (i cant believe it) then Labour has just confirmed they really dont have any idea what is happening outside of some tiny fantasy bubble they inhabit
FCOL
Admittedly, I’d find it pretty hard to put a tick next to his name on a ballot paper myself. But if the Labour Party isn’t the party for a union representative who’s made a name for himself through staunch and sometimes unpopular promotion of his members’ interests, it should retire the name. File this one under “Suck it up, soldier.”
What’s the cost? If the cost is that some won’t vote Labour if it has this representative of organised labour in its ranks, maybe that’s a cost it has to live with if it wants to call itself the Labour Party.
The cost is the other side of the conflict that he represents: yes he was an advocate for his union, but part of his job (as he saw it) was lobbying hard to give the enforcement arm of the state stronger powers and more weapons.
Similarly, some people might be conflicted if a former president of the union for workers in cosmetic vivisection research, who made a media profile lobbying for weaker ethics oversight and exemption from SPCA inspection, was suggested as running for Labour.
Hence the finding it hard to put a tick next to his name on a ballot paper (glad he’s not standing in my electorate). He still fits the spec sheet for a Labour candidate, though, regardless of what I felt about his TV appearances.
Cost probably wasn’t the right word, although maybe cost to Labour’s integrity. I meant that just because someone is very good in one area, if they are really shit in another that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Sir Bob Jones, property investor and former politician, said it was unbelievable that begging was allowed in New Zealand today.
“They’re a bloody disgrace, they’re an eyesore, it’s a disgrace in a modern society that fat people – that fat Maoris as they mostly are – are lying on our streets of our city begging.” he told Chris Lynch on NewstalkZB.
He said begging should be made illegal.
“I was in the city yesterday, in Wellington, and one bugger was standing there, he had a message, this Maori bloke, ‘I’m not on welfare’ – and this apparently was an achievement – ‘so give me money.”
“It baffles me when people say, ‘Oh leave them alone’. They should be ashamed of people begging on the streets… I’m ashamed of these people. They’re a disgrace to the human race.”
According to a Council on Foreign Relations survey, in 2016 alone Obama dropped 26,171 bombs. That is 72 bombs every day. He bombed the poorest people on earth, in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan.
Every Tuesday — reported the New York Times — he personally selected those who would be murdered by mostly hellfire missiles fired from drones. Weddings, funerals, shepherds were attacked, along with those attempting to collect the body parts festooning the “terrorist target.” A leading Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, estimated, approvingly, that Obama’s drones killed 4,700 people. “Sometimes you hit innocent people and I hate that,” he said, “but we’ve taken out some very senior members of Al Qaeda.”
Like the fascism of the 1930s, big lies are delivered with the precision of a metronome, thanks to an omnipresent media whose description now fits that of the Nuremberg prosecutor: “Before each major aggression, with some few exceptions based on expediency, they initiated a press campaign calculated to weaken their victims and to prepare the German people psychologically … In the propaganda system … it was the daily press and the radio that were the most important weapons.”
Take the catastrophe in Libya. In 2011, Obama said Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi was planning “genocide” against his own people. “We knew … that if we waited one more day, Benghazi, a city the size of Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.”
This was the known lie of Islamist militias facing defeat by Libyan government forces. It became the media story and NATO — led by Obama and Hillary Clinton — launched 9,700 “strike sorties” against Libya, of which more than a third were aimed at civilian targets. Uranium warheads were used; the cities of Misurata and Sirte were carpet-bombed. The Red Cross identified mass graves, and UNICEF reported that “most (of the children killed) were under the age of ten.”
Under Obama, the U.S. extended secret “special forces” operations to 138 countries, or 70 percent of the world’s population. The first African-American president launched what amounted to a full-scale invasion of Africa. Reminiscent of the “Scramble for Africa” in the late 19th century, the U.S. African Command has built a network of supplicants among collaborative African regimes eager for U.S. bribes and armaments. Africom’s “soldier to soldier” doctrine embeds U.S. officers at every level of command from general to warrant officer. Only pith helmets are missing.
Isn’t it great that things are going to change for the…oh wait, holy war and torture.
/
In June 2015, Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas congressman, headlined a “God and Country Rally” at Wichita’s Summit Church. “To worship our lord and celebrate our nation at the same place is not only our right, it is our duty,” he began. Pompeo’s speech was a mishmash of domestic culture war callouts and dark warnings about the danger of radical Islam. He cited an inflammatory prayer that a pastor named the Rev. Joe Wright once delivered before the Kansas State Legislature: “America had worshipped other Gods and called it multiculturalism. We’d endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.” He lamented government efforts to “rip faith from our schools” and then segued immediately into a discussion of the jihadi threat: “This evil is all around us.” Pompeo concluded by describing politics as “a never-ending struggle … until the rapture.”
[…]
Amid the fire hose of lunacy that is the Trump transition, however, Pompeo’s extremism has been overlooked. It’s worth pausing to appreciate the fact that America’s CIA will shortly be run by a man who appears to view American foreign policy as a vehicle for holy war.
Like Trump, Pompeo has been a fierce critic of efforts to rein in the CIA’s torture program and a champion of keeping Guantanamo Bay open. While in Congress, he was a frequent guest on the radio show of famously paranoid Frank Gaffney, a man disinvited from the right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference after claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated its parent organization, the American Conservative Union.
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Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
The change allows for devices that do screening, similar to at drink-drive checkpoints, rather than having to test oral fluid to an evidentiary standard. ...
Almost 40% of those departing NZ long-term are aged 18 to 30. What sort of country will they leave behind, asks Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Young people leading the charge out the door Last year saw ...
New Health Minister Simeon Brown is presiding over a list of resignations from high-ranking health officials that some say is a "bloodbath". What's going on? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Rickerby, Lecturer, School of Product Design, University of Canterbury The Poly-1. MOTAT , CC BY-NC Some 45 years ago, a team of staff and students at Wellington Polytechnic designed and built a desktop computer with an operating system customised for ...
The Forum has raised concerns regarding the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, which, if enacted, will radically undermine existing human rights protections, Indigenous rights, and constitutional safeguards ...
The passage of time hasn’t been kind to Ngāi Tahu.When its High Court hearing over wai māori (freshwater) commenced last week, 52 months after the claim was filed, the tribe mourned the loss of two named first plaintiffs – Bishop Richard Wallace, of Makaawhio, and Theo Bunker, of Wairewa – ...
Margie Apa, Nicholas Jones, Diana Sarfati, the board of Health New Zealand … and will Lester Levy be next?The biggest names in our health service are tumbling like dominos.It’s been called a bloodbath and a crisis.What’s going on?Every day there’s a new story about shortages, patients having to wait for ...
Opinion: The coalition Government’s recent revisions to the business investor visa, officially the Active Investor Plus but commonly known as the ‘golden visa’, has put pay-for-residency back in the headlines. While many object to the commodification of citizenship implicit in this policy, questions should be asked about its potential as ...
One Christmas, to thank him for helping me hugely with my writing (on a mentor scheme), I sent Michael King a dark blue cashmere scarf. I chose it with the awful knowledge that he was battling cancer, and I somehow thought it might keep him warm and make him feel ...
Comment: Readers may recall the commentaries from academics that appeared on these pages as well as on many media outlets, alarmed and appalled by the disbanding of the Marsden panels for humanities and the social sciences.The Marsden Fund is a “blue skies” initiative established by Simon Upton in the 1990s. ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard seven hours of submissions. Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.An “insult to every one of our tīpuna” was the first advice the Justice Committee heard on the Treaty principles bill ...
The same councillors who decry excessive spending on pet projects just voted to pump millions of dollars into a greenhouse for flowers. On Thursday last week, Wellington City Council voted to consult on repairing Begonia House, the greenhouse for exotic flowers in Wellington Botanic Garden. The options for repairs range ...
It’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but how much political deference is due when it isn’t peaceful? Commenting on Destiny Church members storming a children’s event at the Te Atatū library and community centre on Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it’s important to ...
Comment: US is capitulating to Moscow’s demands before negotiations over Ukraine even begin The post The day the West died appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Asia Pacific Report Two Palestinian resistance groups have condemned “the brutal assault” on prisoners at Ofer Prison, saying it was “barbaric criminal behaviour that reflects the fascist and terrorist nature of” Israel. In the joint statement, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) called the attack a “miserable attempt” by Israel ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown hopes to have “an opportunity to talk” with the New Zealand government to “heal some of the rift”. Brown returned to Avarua on Sunday afternoon (Cook Islands Time) following his week-long state visit to China, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sonia R. Grover, Clinical Professor of Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne Polina Zimmerman/Pexels Menstruation, or a period, is the bleeding that occurs about monthly in healthy people born with a uterus, from puberty to menopause. This happens when the endometrium, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ella Barclay, Senior Lecturer, School of Art and Design, Australian National University Despite the perceived outrage at Khaled Sabsabi’s depiction of Hassan Nasrallah in his 2007 work You, Australian art has long made subjects of outlaws and questionable figures. And it is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney Lisa Tomasetti/Opera Australia “It’s an old song”, Hermes (Christine Anu) sings at the opening of Hadestown, but “we’re gonna sing it again and again”. Based on a ...
An additional $13 million will be invested in tourism infrastructure, including upgrading huts and resolving the backlog in Milford Sound concessions. ...
The reality is that we have no obligation to tolerate the intolerant. They are using violence to shut down and silence others. The result of tolerating intolerant views is the loss of everyone’s freedom of speech except for the one who most effectively ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Davis, Associate Professor in Conservation, Edith Cowan University Adwo/Shutterstock Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons. In response, manufacturers have produced second generation anticoagulant rodenticides such as bromadiolone, widely ...
Alex Casey unearths Simon Court’s full sales pitch for how menstrual cups could end poverty. On Friday last week, Act MP Simon Court was accused of “mansplaining” during a parliamentary committee hearing about benefit sanctions. After submitter Rachel Dibble shared her concerns about period poverty and the impact that sanctions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato It’s an unfortunate fact that bad people sometimes want guns. And while laws are designed to prevent guns falling into the wrong hands, the determined criminal can be highly resourceful. There are three main ...
Asia Pacific Report Two independent Jewish Voices groups in Aotearoa New Zealand have written an open letter to the government condemning the Zionist “colonisation” project leading to genocide and criticising the role of the NZ Jewish Council for its “unelected” and “uncritical support” for Israel. The groups, Alternative Jewish Voices ...
A good read about the Russia/US election problem that makes a lot of good points that don’t get enough examination.
“There’s also the crucial dog that hasn’t barked: Unlike during the lead up to the Iraq War, no one from the intelligence agencies has been leaking doubts or claims that they’re being leaned on by the White House to provide the desired conclusion.”
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/16/the-real-reason-any-russian-meddling-is-an-emergency/
Yes indeed. The complete absence of evidence is proof enough that those dastardly Russians are, once again, running everything.
Wow, two straw men in one sentence. There’s almost something admirable about such ability.
“Trump will be assassinated” Paul Craig Roberts & Max Keiser
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts states clearly and repeatedly that if they can’t stop him becoming president they’ll kill Trump just as they did with John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley.
Fake media narratives hide the truth ……and can trick good people into making bad decisions ….
Its how National Govern
Fake news stories are individual hail-stones…… in the blizzard of inaccurcies, manipulated statistics and biased no context bull shit served up by our corporate media .
we only get one side of the story ……… and thats presented in a dishonest light.
The John Key image was built on fake news ………… ‘reported’ and repeated by either, biased, lazy or incompetent press members who print lies.
media fake news in partnership with Nationals Dirty politics WAS John Key …. Popularity by dishonesty
Exibit A) http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/573560/Key-pledges-PMs-salary-to-charity …. it reads like a press release from that swirler farrar //////
This fake news exibit pimped on the front page of the sunday times, stuff, etc ……. it sends a false “generous” image for Key ……versus the reality of a greedy multi-millionare cheat …..who made a large part of his wealth by taking money of normal, honet and poor people …..
I doubt any new zealand prime-minister, past or present ,…. or any other nz citizen ,has taken more money and wealth away from middle class and poor U.s citizen ………..
Very few reporters in NZ can hold their heads up high during the Key media mirage with a few honarble exceptions ……
But for a Heroic, brave and honest reporter I recommend this riviting and revealing movie by jerry scahill …… Dirty Wars
Look at the childrens eyes …. and reflect on the u.s “intelligence”
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts states clearly and repeatedly that if they can’t stop him becoming president they’ll kill Trump…
Sure. And Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi states clearly and repeatedly that there is no god but God and that Muhammed is his prophet, but that doesn’t mean either that there is a god or that Muhammed was a prophet.
Straw men is your province, my friend. I’m just amused by your gullibility. How’s that James Clapper-led investigation into the Russian masterminds going, by the way?
… and a very good ….but also very sad interview for you Morrissey
Two reporters who give us the truth at great personal risks ….
You’ve probably heard it before …. but I thought you’d enjoy some quality over the low grade and ignorant dross NZ media puts out.
Excluding Nicky Hager and the few other good ones we have ….
Thanks reason! Jeremy Scahill, along with such other outstanding journalists as Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges, Allan Nairn and Matt Lee makes me optimistic about the future of the United States.
A cool idea for cyclists. But it also needs one to the rear, and a model wearing something more visible than all black while cycling at night.
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/01/16/new-yorks-citi-bikes-trialling-blaze-laserlight-tech/
Stuff ‘journalist’ gets up early to file this…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/88438169/think-of-it-what-you-will-but-neoliberalism-works
“And when reviewing that list of economic principles, it is instructive to consider just how much cross-party support they have received over the years.
It is true that neither of the last two governments have been particular puritan disciples of the creed. One example of this is the spending binge that characterised the end of Helen Clark’s government.
This National government has continued the questionable tradition of doling out generous subsidies to big Hollywood movie studios. While both governments sold some state assets (either wholly or partially) there is not much appetite for further privatisation.
But in the main, the essentials of New Zealand’s new economy have enjoyed a bipartisan consensus.
Whether you call it “neoliberalism” or something else, it is a framework that has served us well. Here’s hoping that this year’s election renews our commitment to responsible economic management.”
Maybe he should have stayed in bed….needs more sleep.
Whether you call it “neoliberalism” or something else, it is a framework that has served us well.
2 questions.
1.Who is ‘us’?
The owners of Fairfax media?
Alan Gibbs?
John Key?
Michael Fay?
David Richwhite?
2. How is it serving the rest of well?
High rates of imprisonment
High rates of suicide
High rates of unemployment
High rates of homelessness
High rates of water pollution
High rates of inequality
High rates of child poverty
High rates of foreign ownership
High rates of personal debt
How Neoliberalism has failed New Zealand
The 10 great neoliberal myths of NZ
It’s clearly labelled as opinion. A quick google shows Liam Hehir appears to be some sort of lawyer, with an occasional sideline in writing hard-right opinion pieces. He’s not a journalist, and it’s a slander on actual journalists to suggest Hehir has anything in common with real journalists.
Interesting that Liam Hehir felt comfortable using the pronoun us. Must have been describing the lawyer community. It would be interesting to know why he got selected for a regular opinion piece.
It is an editorial decision to give so many right wingers a forum to publish their opinions. It is no slander to criticise the editorial policy at Fairfax.
Liam Hehir is not an aberration. He is firmly in the tradition of third-rate, nasty and downright disgusting commentary in the Herald, a tradition underlined weekly by the likes of Kerre “ohoWmad” McIvor and Mike “Contra” Hosking.
The cosy assumption that “we” all shared his loathing of and contempt for Māori was a feature of Paul Holmes’s rants on radio, television and, yes, the New Zealand Herald. Several months before his seven-minute spittle-flecked tirade against the Secretary General of the U.N., Holmes was sure his television audience would share his “concern” about another lot of cheeky darkies—these particular lowlifes were in the Bay of Plenty. In a conspiratorial manner that the Broadcasting Standards Authority later described as “framed in a way calculated to incite moral indignation” Holmes intoned the following …
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/201805459/polarising-presenter-sparks-a-backlash
Four years ago, media luvvie Brian Edwards was incensed when I and several others had the poor taste to spoil an encomium he had written for Holmes by reminding him and his readers that Holmes was a racist….
http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2012/12/paul-holmes-starry-starry-knight/#comment-24313
https://bsa.govt.nz/images/assets/Research/Maori-Worldviews-BSA2009.pdf
And how does a lawyer in Wellington get a gig on Fairfax media?
Must know someone.
The same way a couple of other lawyers from Wellington get a regular gig on RNZ National.
Stephen Franks….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23082014/#comment-872149
…and Stephen Franks’s hapless teaboy….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042013/#comment-620413
That trio hardly inspire respect for the legal profession.
He also appears to have a regular airing on the cetacean’s site…rather hilarious actually…judging by the few comments I managed to read before nausea overcame me…they take him seriously without fact checking.
I get your point about calling him a journalist Andre…hence the ‘journalist’.
I wonder who he knows to get the job.
Seems there might be a bit of a patterns to this Rosemary. ‘The Canary’ is reporting on a fair chunk of UK media framing the Oxfam report as “Poor Bill Gates”
http://www.thecanary.co/2017/01/16/youre-not-imagining-uk-media-completely-lost-shit-today-video/
Someone commented yesterday that TVNZ News simply didn’t mention it.
And then there’s this piece of gunk in The Independent this morning
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/oxfam-statistic-inequality-truth-eight-richest-people-a7530291.html
I’m not going to bother mentioning my contention that Liberalism is in crisis and I’m not going to bother speculating that this
broadconsensus in reporting across a fair swathe of the msm is indicative of a “circling the wagons”. 😉edited for the sake of accuracy And The Guardian has a couple of decent articles.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/16/eight-people-earn-more-billion-economics-broken
Stuffed is allowing comments….Mr. Hehir’s fan club hasn’t rounded the membership yet to bolster his premise…so far he’s being slammed for the twit that he is. Folk are asking for a definition of “works”, next thing they’ll be demanding evidence.
Clearly he’s the right tool for the right job.
Mr Hehir lists the great policies of neoliberalism:
of course this includes benign examples like
Eschewing subsidies in favour of spending on infrastructure and primary education and healthcare; does not include subsidising landlards, farmers, etc
* Encouraging foreign investment; which has been great for the housing situation in NZ, and for the banks, for farmland, etc
*Privatising state owned businesses;
And how we all have benefited from SOEs, from lower power prices, from the comings and goings of Kiwirail, etc
*Eliminating regulations that restrict competition (while retaining those which protect the environment and safety); and such a great safety record we have at Pike River, in forestry, and the environment has benefits from unrestricted competition in farming, etc.
*Protecting legal property rights. unless it’s land of the tangata/manu whenua… so no problem there.
So that’s the most benign of impacts of neoliberalism, then? So tell me about the less benign impacts?
Get used to this in an election year as the owned MSM go hard with overt and subtle ‘why change’ themes
Europe considering a UBI
Read it all here
As robots take jobs, Europeans mull free money for all
A ubi will consign at least 10% of youth to the scrap heap, having enough % to subsist on they will rot in hovels and basements.
Governments need to create real jobs with meaning.
valid point…UBI in combination with some form of vocational training to age 25?
real jobs with meaning , for some that might be higher learning , but for others it could be killing pests , cutting tracks in forests , mining minerals on mars, young men hang one armed from skyscrapers because they have no outlet for their urge to explore.
may be difficult to provide real jobs with meaning looking ahead however there are other reasons to provide opportunities to develop…. the opportunity to learn skills or to examine areas of interest can only be beneficial both to individuals and society and helps to retain/develop a repository of those skills and knowledge….things that may well be at great risk of being lost….and that is meaningful.
If fact thinking further a UBI brings into question the role of universal formal education at every level.
Yeah interesting to see what would happen. The middle class kids at the moment spend time mucking around at uni living off their loans for 3 or 4 years. Poorer kids would be afforded a similar lifestyle under a UBI probably keeping more of them out of trouble.
when i was a lost young loon, i went on the dole by choice for a spell, the only thing that got me to go back to work was it wasn’t enough for me to eat live and support my love of partying , if it had of been a $100 dollars more i would have rotted away there for years.
What if someone had offered you another $100 to do something you loved?
hard to tell but i lack the self motivation gene and at that point was a munter of the highest order , it would have gone on beer and smokes , bloody glad p wasn’t a thing back then aswell.
$ not %
How about we stop the student/work visa scam. That’d be a start.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11761594
“A joint Mbie-Treasury briefing to Joyce, Woodhouse and Finance Minister Bill English in December last year said 45 per cent of former international students who became skilled migrants did not have degrees, compared to only 30 per cent in 2004/05.
It added that in 2014 recent migrants held 25 per cent of accommodation and food jobs and about 18 per cent of administrative and support jobs, despite “no strong evidence of genuine skills shortages” in these industries.”
I have no problem with people coming here to contribute with skills, I have a huge problem with people coming here to work at mcdonalds.
Those people that Joyce said “…might start initially in lower-skilled jobs but they tend to move up into higher-skilled jobs over time, just like everybody else.” could have been NZ citizens that the state has supported since birth.
Be careful you’ll get called a racist by some for spouting common sense like that.
I just find it odd that we would let overseas students have free range in our job market, all while complaining that our citizens are unemployed. I think I know the real answer, in keeps wages low and appeases big business.
I’m a contractor in my chosen field and get payed very well for my skills when I work (health reasons mean I have to be picky). Lately I’ve felt the need to move on and try something else but can’t afford to start at the bottom again as minimum wage doesn’t cover my modest outgoings. FFS, I was earning $12/hr 27 years ago when I was a bar manager (yes, that was a good rate back then but…) The manager at my local earns $16 with 30 years experience and they have no shortage of applicants when they need new staff.
Brighter future? yeah right.
”Brighter future? yeah right.”
you just gotsta believe.
but yes while everyone was wanting to have a beer with key he was shafting the youth of nz
Would a UBI create a ‘contract’ with the government or controlling entity?
What ‘conditions’ may be ‘enforced’ as a quid pro quo…
Reduce inequality and we’ll reduce this terrible statistic.
Read the whole article here.
Suicide rate among young Kiwi men double that of young Australian men in recent years
Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett researched and wrote The Spirit Level. The book argues that there are “pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption”. It claims that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal countries, whether rich or poor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level:_Why_More_Equal_Societies_Almost_Always_Do_Better
Paul
Is inequality the cause of the difference in the suicide rate?
Both Australia and NZ have virtually the same level of inequality in both wealth and income terms.
The reasons for the higher rate of youth suicide in NZ will be more complex than you suggest.
Geeze, Wayne….share with us plebs the wealth of your greater insight!
Tell me….is the Mighty Right getting a tad nervous at the moment with all this discussion about how the policies of the past thirty years have been a complete and utter failure by just about every measure one can apply?
Rosemary,
I don’t know the reasons for NZ’s youth suicide rate being twice that of Australia.
But it seems to me that the inequality difference between the two counties will not be the reason. Both nations have a wealth spread that is very similar and is in the middle of the OECD nations. The US is much greater.
The reasons for suicide are known to be complex. Each person has their own reasons and while there will be common elements in many of them, each person makes a unique choice.
I did read today that NZ is much more unequal than Australia because the two wealthiest people in NZ had as much as the poorest 30%, whereas in Australia the two wealthiest people had the same as the poorest 20%. It is a spurious use of numbers that is hugely dependent on chance. Actually one of the two NZers does not even live here and has made all his wealth in Russia and Singapore.
A much better comparison is how much wealth the top 10% have compared to everyone else. There are many more people in the top 10% so one person can’t skew the stats. On this measure NZ and Australia are similar, with the wealthiest 10% holding as much as the lowest 50%.
Pretty gross to be referencing Richard Chandler and discussing suicide in the same comment, given what his brother’s Legatum got up to in rural India.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11783189
scathing attack on peters from the herald,
I was intrigued by this sentence:
That is equally true of the National Party.
I think the most salient point is this:
“Regardless of bottom lines, he will go with the winner if his choice matters.”
I think that’s pretty much on the money, Rogue. A Peters-English administration would have considerable comic potential, I believe.
A Peters-English administration would have considerable comic potential, I believe.
Not for the working class of New Zealand.
Well you’re likely right about that, if I was English I’d make Peters Foreign Minister and hope that keeps him happy
Puck. Over the holiday break, you learned nothing ???
Damn!
I don’t know. This will probably be his last throw of the dice so I think he’ll aim for something monumental rather than playing himself for the long term.
I think if people have screwed him over at any point then they ought to be starting to feel a bit worried about how he is going to play his cards.
Sounds more like John Key rather than Winston Peters again MSM preaching a false narrative.
Jesse Jackson and John Lewis have placed party loyalty above truthfulness;
Their foolish repetition of anti-Russian lies will tarnish their legacy.
Over the last week or so, we have heard much about three men, all of them Democratic Party politicians, who have spoken out strongly against Donald Trump. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia is a legend in the civil rights community; more than fifty years ago, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Birmingham, and had his skull smashed by “law enforcement” thugs. The Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988 got 6.6 million votes in his run for the Democratic nomination; he is famous around the world for his eloquent defense of human rights. And New Jersey senator Cory Booker last week became the second senator in history to testify against one of his colleagues when, at the Senate confirmation hearing, he spoke against Trump’s unbelievable nomination for Attorney General, the racist Alabama senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
This all sounds impressive, and it’s the kind of political news that gives people hope during these dark and dread-filled days of waiting for the horrifying reality of a Ku Klux Klan-endorsed candidate reciting the Presidential oath on Friday.
On close inspection, however, these three turn out to be no more honest or trustworthy than some of their more unpleasant, less revered colleagues. This past week both Lewis and Jackson have shown that, whatever glorious and brave deeds they have performed in the past, they are first and foremost Democratic Party loyalists. And being a Democratic Party loyalist right now means that you are under intense pressure to repeat the most absurd, fantastic and lurid anti-Russian propaganda.
The other day, on NBC’s Meet the Press John Lewis, civil rights hero, lowered himself to the level of the most shameless Clinton apparatchiks as he delivered the following fantasy, which might as well have been written for him by John Dean or Debbie Wasserman Schultz….
http://reason.com/blog/2017/01/14/rep-john-lewis-says-trump-is-not-a-legit
Equally on message, equally loyal, equally cynical is another former civil rights warrior, Jesse Jackson, who, when taunted by a Fox News troll to comment on why Hillary Clinton lost, said this:
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/jesse-jackson-gave-fox-news-troll-perfect-answer-why-hillary-lost-less-10-seconds
And as for Senator Cory Booker: well, the United States needs another Barack Obama like Gaza needs another massacre….
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/14/14262732/cory-booker-senate-democrats
At a time when the United States more than ever needs people of rectitude and character to step forward and speak truthfully and fearlessly, two old civil rights warriors have thrown in the towel, and a superficially attractive young politician is exposed as just another smooth-talking fraud. Thus party politics doth make cowards of us all.
In honor of this being exactly the same post you put on Open Mike yesterday, you win…
In honor of this being exactly the same post you put on Open Mike yesterday…
Actually, as an elementary exercise in exegesis would reveal, this morning’s version is a shade tighter and easier to read than yesterday’s.
Still, it’s nice to see Monty Python at any time, so thank you, my friend.
The leafy suburbs on the night of Key’s resignation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11783845.
Worth repeating Morrissey.
There is big stuff going down at the moment.
What Andre said. Also, given that Jesse Jackson and John Lewis are both black and both veteran civil rights campaigners, we don’t need to go looking for ulterior motives for their rejection of a KKK-endorsed racist for PotUS. It’s pretty insulting to them that you do look for an ulterior motive and tell yourself you’ve found one.
Also, given that Jesse Jackson and John Lewis are both black and both veteran civil rights campaigners, we don’t need to go looking for ulterior motives for their rejection of a KKK-endorsed racist for PotUS.
So why did they both parrot the bogus “Russian hacking” line? Clue: it has nothing to do with their history of civil rights campaigning, and has everything to do with their rather misguided decision to be “team players”.
It’s pretty insulting to them that you do look for an ulterior motive and tell yourself you’ve found one.
So what WAS their motivation for repeating a lie that no one with an IQ above 60 actually believes?
So why did they both parrot the bogus “Russian hacking” line?
It’s a complete, unknowable fucking mystery. Well, unless we dare entertain the counter-intuitive prospect that perhaps, just maybe, I know this will be shocking but bear with me, they might not share Morrissey’s assessment of the Russian government’s cyber-attacks on the major parties.
PM clearly believes the CIA….after 2002-2003.
You really are an enthusiast for logical fallacies. Today’s one is “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” or “false in one thing, false in everything.” It’s a popular one in holocaust denial, because eye-witnesses are often wrong about various things in their testimony.
In other words, the US intelligence agencies’ investigation of Russian cyber-attacks on the US’ major parties is to be taken on its own merits, regardless of Paul’s opinions about things that happened in the early 2000s.
“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Patrick Cockburn
The Dodgy Trump Dossier Reminds Me of the Row Over Saddam’s WMDs
And back to the old favourite, “argument from authority.” This may come as a terrible shock, Paul, but Patrick Cockburn has no more idea than you or I do whether all or any of the things in that dossier are true or not.
What’s wrong with turning to independent experts as sources?
Of should I just make up my views based on gut instincts….
And had you watched the George Galloway link earlier, you would see he does know more than either of us.
George Galloway talks about the soft coup against Donald Trump.
Much in this talk worthy of your listening.
1. It was the British that interfered in the American election.
The dossier was complied by a British intelligence official.
The dossier was passed to the United States through an former British ambassador to Moscow, who passed it to McCain, who then passed it onto the Head of the FBI.
2. The plan is to corner him so he does not go along with plans for rapprochement with Russia.
3. Trump is at risk of assassination on his inauguration day IF he follows through with such plans.
MI6 are playing old games.
Zinoviev letter was dirty trick by MI6
Trevett and the Herald up to their usual obsequious manner.
This time the caretaker PM is described as ‘calm.’, ‘steady’, ‘measured’ , ‘a wee bit of balm for her (Merkel’s) soul.’
According to the sycophant Trevett, he put on ‘a good showing for New Zealand’,made ‘an impressive showing” and ‘managed to put up a convincing case for New Zealand.’.
English…… ‘a wee bit of balm for her soul.’ Even by Trevett’s bootlicking standards, that’s up there.
Read the whole article if you haven’t eaten a meal recently.
Bill English puts on a good showing for New Zealand on his first European tour
Get used to it Lefties, this is what the media is all about ( Hehir ,Trevett ,Hosking etc ) and the situation for us will worsen with an election in sight. These turkeys in the media know what side their bread is buttered on and will push hard for the status quo. Being nice to them in their twisted interviews is not going to work.
Who have we got to stand up to these bastards and tell it like it is? And don’t say Winston!
Lead and unite. Don’t follow!
Until ‘we’ understand the concept ‘we’ will continue to be ‘eradicated’
Paul, again, bits and bob are appending themselves to the link you posted.
Here’s how it’s rendering –
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11783487%E2%80%99
– these are the bits and bobs-
%E2%80%99
– and this is the correct address.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11783487
Trev’s mutating into Dame Edna.
My opinions are based on listening very carefully to what people are saying and your speculation on my “agenda” is disingenuous. There is nothing “anti feminist” about my views , labeling and shutting them down is not a very productive.
The point was raised (and was relevant) that as you put it some are suggesting that “real politics is economic and women’s politics is about manners” .
my point was (and is) that that is a common perception. My challange was for you to consider how you may be contributing to that view and how you might change it. If you really need an example I would give you the Cinton campaign in the USA (which is no derailment because the march is against TRUMP) if you cannot see how the Clinton campaign contributed to the view that “real politics is economic and women’s politics is about manners” and how marching in solidarity might further promote that view then i ask you to set aside your righteous anger and look a bit deeper. (preferably before rushing to moderation). we actually both want equality and fairness, our disagreement is about what is a productive action to get there.
[The march isn’t against Trump. Reread the post. You are now banned from commenting in that post for the rest of the day for wasting moderator time and derailing the thread when asked not to. – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
POST
“Women to protest Trump’s inauguration”
Moderated because
“The march isn’t against Trump. Reread the post”
Most abject apologies , boy i sure got that wrong then, have to be more careful in future!
If any of you see the march please be sure to remember that isn’t against Trump. OK?
so sorry for letting my unreconstructed assumptions and bias lead me astray there
[I will take from that that you didn’t reread the post. I’m sick of having my time wasted as a moderator, so for future reference if you do this kind of derailment again in a thread that I see I will just move the comment immediately to OM without warning, and I will probably ban you for a period of time so I don’t have to deal with this shit when I would rather be writing posts – weka]
Ok genuine question.
now that this is moved to OM can I continue to discuss the purpose and perceptions around the inaguration protests ?
You better be more careful. Obviously the march is against Trump’s *inauguration*, not Trump himself. It’s totally and absolutely irrelevant that it’s Donald Trump getting inaugurated. Anyone can see that.
IOKIYAR.
“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012”
well if he feels like that he can either bloody well stand for president himself or shut up!
So, the clown paid Pumpkin Pinochet foundation to produce fake news has moved on to plotting the disruption of the Pumpkin Pinochet’s inauguration while in the pay of the Pumpkin Pinochet foundation.
A left-wing political group released a new video Monday of a counter-sting that has uncovered evidence of right-wing activists trying to sow chaos at Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony, an effort to portray critics of Trump who march against him as violent fringe figures.
The counter-sting, carried out by The Undercurrent and Americans Take Action, a project of a previous target of provocateur James O’Keefe, managed to surreptitiously record elements of O’Keefe’s network offering huge sums of money to progressive activists if they would disrupt the ceremony and “put a stop to the inauguration” and the related proceedings to such a degree that donors to the clandestine effort would “turn on a TV and maybe not even see Trump.” To have riots blot out coverage of Trump, the donor offered “unlimited resources,” including to shut down bridges into D.C.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/counter-sting-catches-james-okeefe-network-attempting-to-sow-chaos-at-trumps-inauguration_us_5873e26fe4b043ad97e516f7?
It will be well worth attending any ‘meet the candidates’ events or debates in Nelson this election year. Why?
Local identity Matt Lawrey is standing for the Greens. There is no love lost between him and Nick Smith, this will be popcorn entertainment at it’s finest. Nickoff will be spitting tacks. Mr Lawrey is anti southern link an experienced Councillor and media savvy (journalist, ex lotto presenter), he has quite a following and the strength to fight Nickoff. Whether he wins or not is a different story, but he will put up a fight, Nickoff will def meet his match on the local stage.
All the best Mr Lawrey, I’d love to see you in the house.
Plenty of topical issues in the Nelson electorate but the Southern Link is a massive issue between these two
Winston is the only viable alternative to the two neoliberal parties who portray the same ingredients as Pepsi and Coke. NZF will poll somewhere between 15-20%
Vote NZF and you run the risk of getting a right wing neoliberal govt, instead of a centre/left/green coalition govt.
Vote NZF and you run the risk of getting a right wing neoliberal govt, instead of a centre/left/green coalition neoliberal govt.
who will you vote for then xanthe?
I disagree that the Greens are neoliberal, but they will certainly work in a neoliberal govt if that’s all left wing voters will let them do.
“who will you vote for then xanthe? ”
Internet Party!
They seem to be the only ones who recognise that abuse of state power will overwhelm the best of intentions whoever we vote for
Assuming they stand, the risk there is that the % of the left vote that the left needs to form govt is lost and National get another term.
Yeah i know that but i think it is improper that voters are put in a position of voting for something they dont agree with to stop something worse thereby destroying any long term chance to get what they do want.
Fuck it i will vote for the party that seems to have the best understanding of what is actually happening and the best intentions , i wont play the other game anymore. So IP it is.
I’d have some sympathy for that argument, and would probably use it myself, were it not for Climate Change. We don’t have time for that kind of long term change.
Do you think that climate change can be tackled without tackling abuse of state power?
Climate change is tackling us already irrespective of state power. The politicians will follow soon enough, once the population gets antsy. Or if we have a hard crash let’s just pray we have left wing neoliberal and the Greens in power rather than a pro-fascist National govt.
So, I support people being activists to change the economic system, but I’m not waiting for the revolution. When the shit starts to hit the fan re CC, we need to be ready irrespective of whether the govt is or not.
Vote NZF and you’re effectively voting for a National government that’s less socially liberal than the current one. It depresses me that there’s a constituency for that at all, let alone one that occasionally hits 14%.
Maybe take some solace from the fact that NZF only once got close to 14% (13.3%, 7 elections ago), once got 10% (5 elections ago) and every other time has been below 8.7% (sometimes well below).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_First#Electoral_results
I wouldn’t be taking too much notice of their past results in this Trump era. I think its entirely possible NZ First could double their support this time and get 16%. New Zealand has become so out of whack I think we should expect some surprises.
I think that’s true, even more reason for lefties to be careful about how they frame things and what they promote and support.
Agree maui.
The dumbing down of the NZ populace over the past 30 odd years has taken its toll. We may may not have sunk to the levels of ill-informedness (yes, I made the word up) that exists in America but we’re not very far behind. The blow-hards and Waitakere man and their partners will be marching to the polls to the tune of “go Winston go. We love you. Make NZ great again.”
I think NZFirst probably will get about 15% this election, any votes lost by National will probably go to NZFirst before Labour and the Greens
IMHO of course
We know your opinion is always humble PR. 😎
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11783594
Good call for Little this, why keep flogging a dead horse in trying to win an electorate seat when you don’t need to
Troll.
Good call, Paul 🙂
(Rhymes)
Better call Saul
Don’t flatter yourself, you still have some work to do to become a troll 🙂
Glenn Greenwald somehow maintains his patience when dealing with the blatant bias of the BBC interviewer.
Interview starts at 4 minutes.
More details on the hatchet job on Trump.
Who is the man behind the ‘dirty dossier’?
Britain should investigate former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, says Donald Trump
Chris Hedges investigates.
On Contact: Real purpose of intel report on Russian hacking with Abby Martin & Ben Norton.
Nobody wants to go and the cover band is bailing.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/01/16/donald-trump-reduced-paying-seat-fillers-inauguration.html
edit: funnier by the minute
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/scalpers-losing-money-tickets-trump-inauguration-article-1.2947620?cid=bitly
https://twitter.com/riotwomennn/status/821116433107185664
John Pilger’s assessment of Obama at 12:30
He also asserts that the ultimate ambition of hawks in Washington was regime change in Russia.
George Galloway on U.S. Russian Witch Hunt
Jeremy Corbyn Accused of Being Russian “Collaborator” for Questioning NATO Troop Build-Up on Border
From that article, Glenn Greenwald writes.
With only days left before the inauguration of Donald Trump, it appears the intelligence community is at war with itself. Are we witnessing an attempted coup?
Thank you for your very thorough efforts to shine some light on what is going on Paul. The Left in the USA seems to have totally lost the plot, and the Right is really struggling to make any sense of anything with all its infighting over their loose cannon leader.
We have a KKK-backed candidate about to take the oath of allegiance, and unfortunately the major “opposition” party’s only tactic is to concoct, in league with the world’s most notorious perjurer, wild fantasies about Russian hacking.
It’s dispiriting to see the likes of Jesse Jackson and John Lewis succumb to the (obviously intense) pressure to fall into line with this witless campaign.
We do know how to find the Russian government’s propaganda service if we want to watch it, you know. It’s really not necessary to post all its programming to Open Mike.
John PIlger, Glenn Greenwald, George Galloway and Naom Chomsky – Russian propagandists?
You really have been hoodwinked by the MSM.
…and this guy? I guess he’s not a Russian propogandist, so is ok?
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/rt-host-manuel-ochsenreiter-exposed-neo-nazi-editor-134701758.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw
Are John PIlger, Glenn Greenwald, George Galloway and Naom Chomsky Russian propagandists?
What does that even mean? If they’re invited onto the Russian government’s propaganda service because their opinions are helpful to the Russian government’s interests, it doesn’t make them Russian propagandists but it would be nice if the fact they’re being invited to contribute to Russian government propaganda gave them even a moment’s thought. There’s no sign that it does.
Wonder why the BBC or CNN hardly ever has them on?
Well, I expect their willingness to endorse Russian government propaganda has at least a little to do with it. Think of the flip side: if someone regularly appears on Voice of America because their views are helpful to the US government, how likely are independent media to regard them as reliable sources?
You really do believe every lie the MSM tells you, don’t you?
Some people never learn…
Former CIA presidential adviser to Regan / Bush, Ray McGovern speaks about the LIE at the Gulf of Tonkin that thrust war upon Vietnam killing 1.5 million Vietnamese, 58,000+ Americans, 424+ Australians.
Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح), called “Nurse Nayirah” in the media, was a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, who alleged that she had witnessed the murder of infant children by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait, in verbal testimony to the U.S. Congress, in the run up to the 1991 Gulf War. Her testimony, which was regarded as credible at the time, has since come to be regarded as wartime propaganda.
I know this is a difficult one for you, but you really do need to somehow wrap your head around it: no matter what instances you dig up of the US government or one of its allies peddling a propaganda lie, it doesn’t form even the semblance of an argument against RT being a Russian government propaganda service, nor any kind of argument that the people who appear on it to espouse views favourable to the Russian government are reliable authorities.
Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح), called “Nurse Nayirah” in the media, was a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, who alleged that she had witnessed the murder of infant children by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait, in verbal testimony to the U.S. Congress, in the run up to the 1991 Gulf War.
Having lived in Kuwait for a while, I find your continual parading of this example particularly loathesome. Yes, there were some Kuwaitis who were keen to get any horror story about the Iraqi invaders they could in front of western media, and were willing to lie to do it. Big whoop – you think Palestinians haven’t published any false stories about Israeli atrocities? Fact is, Iraq did invade and its soldiers did murder, torture, loot, rape and a whole lot of other stuff, all of which more than justified Kuwait’s allies destroying the invasion forces. If you think the Iraqis were the victims in that conflict, fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
You have an answer for everything.
Most cultists do.
I guess getting my opinions on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait from having lived there and talked to people who lived through it can’t compare with your own intensive YouTube experience, so fuck it, knock yourself out.
My views are based on independent reliable experienced journalists…. Cockburn, Pilger, Fisk, Greenwald, Chomsky and others.
Sorry, but anecdotal evidence is at the Paula Bennett level of debate.
Paul. Why do you even respond to PM? He knows rt is no more and no less a conduit for propaganda than CNN, BBC, ABC, The Times, The Guardian, Washington Post and on and on and on.
It’s just that since rt often challenges the prop we get fed and PM prefers seagulls to discerning diners as it were, rt must be subjected to squawks of condemnation.
Basically. 😉
Why is pm so pro CIA?
I know that RT is essentially the same as media organisations that aren’t propaganda services of their respective governments? That’s pretty fucking low.
The BBC doesn’t promote UK ‘official’ interests. Neither does the Times, the Guardian et al. NBC, CNN, The Washington Post, NYT … these outlets don’t spin pro-US lines.
Then there’s the real world.
Are you not a part of it PM? If your going to insist on being taken seriously, then the only conclusion a thinking person could possibly tend towards from taking some of your squawking at face value, is that you’re delusional…perhaps a rabid, strangely conservative ideologue – even possibly both.
Your support of neo-con foreign policies is an embarassment.
The “real world,” huh? In the real world, there’s a difference between state-funded and state-controlled. If you want a comparison service to RT, try Voice of America. The BBC et al are a different class of entity.
The BBC’s bias is clear.
More BBC propaganda…this time regarding Libya
Nah PM. The BBC might not be subject direct dictatorial control, but only those who display the ‘correct’ attitudes and politics ever aspire to a position of power within the org. (And then there are those funding ‘strings’ – the government sets the licence fee.)
As to how RT’s editorial policy works – I have no idea. But presenter after presenter who has formerly worked for these “different class of entities” say there has never been editorial interference.
And if intelligent and critical people get 5/8ths of sfa air time on these “different class of entities”, are you saying that’s got something to do with them, rather than the “different class of entity”?
Voice of America isn’t something I’ve ever listened to or really got anything much to say about. I’ve heard of it.
Ever wondered if what the media and the government tells you should always be trusted?
This quote should alert you.
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship…
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
– Hermann Goering
*cough*
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/mh17-russia-today-presenter-sara-firth-quits-over-malaysia-airlines-crash-coverage-9615489.html?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-today-anchor-resigns-lives-on-air-in-response-to-whitewashed-ukraine-coverage-9172818.html
Yeah, maybe fair enough. (What you reckon would have happened to any BBC TV presenter going off-script like Abby Martin did btw?) And is it the case that no journalists have quit major western msm outlets for similar reasons?
If Sara Firth is to be held up as an exemplar, then hundreds should be heading for the doors of the beeb over their Syrian coverage. Ain’t happening though, is it? Which could lead to an interesting and indepth discussion beyond this point scoring ping-pong in ever shrinking boxes.
…only those who display the ‘correct’ attitudes and politics ever aspire to a position of power within the org.
Well, yes. That’s true of any large organisation. It doesn’t make the BBC equivalent to state propaganda service.
As to how RT’s editorial policy works – I have no idea. But presenter after presenter who has formerly worked for these “different class of entities” say there has never been editorial interference.
And yet somehow, everything on this news service run by the Russian government, all the time, ever, reflects and supports the Russian government’s position. What are the odds?
Voice of America isn’t something I’ve ever listened to or really got anything much to say about.
Well, funny thing – it’s a news service run by the US government, on which everything, all the time, ever, reflects and supports the US government’s position. It sounds kind of familiar, but it’s hard to pin down exactly where from…
– Hermann Goering
Oh, the irony…
Provide a link to the last story TVNZ ran with prominence that went against a consensus held by those in NZ government circles. (ie – not something just being critical of the government of the day by reporting something in line the Opposition was running with)
And then give me one from the BBC that did likewise on a UK government consensus.
Something on Iraq perhaps? What about Libya? Syria? Anything?
No. You won’t find a damned thing outside of an opinion piece in a newspaper.
No ideologue would think that as anything other than right and normal mind.
I’ll just leave it at as PM suggests – they have outlooks that are useful to the Russian propagandists.
How about having a neo-nazi as your German ‘specialist’?
It would appear this site is full of neocon armchair warriors.
Are the BBC, Guardian, the Independent. NBC, CNN, The Washington Post, NYT and al Jazeera also propaganda outlets – for the other side?
Are you able to have your worldview challenged?
Or are you close minded?
Al Jazeera certainly runs propaganda lines for the Qatari rulers and doesn’t as a rule criticise the Qatar Government over things like the Yemen War. Press TV does the same with Iran and CCTV for China.
It probably pays to have a healthy dose of skepticism with all of them – RT is noticeable for its lack of criticism of its own Government as with the others above.
I would contrast them with France 24 – another government backed TV network which actually has robust political debate on the French Government – both domestically and in foreign policy. It tends to have a much more nuanced view of Russia and foreign-affairs generally.
Indeed. A healthy dose of skepticism – not idiotic condemnation. And applied right across the board with no exceptions…unless the aim is to conjure up or reinforce a comfortable little slice of security to get an ideologue through the day.
How about having a neo-nazi as your German ‘specialist’?
It’s all good – if his views are helpful to the Russian government, nothing else needs to be taken into account.
You apply the same bar to the really existing situation whereby the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and a wheen of others uncritically reported as news the views and opinions of known terrorists when the views of those terrorists just happened to coincide with western governments’ policies of regime change?
Nah. Thought not. You believed it was actual reporting because it was coming from Aunty et al.
And many people died unnecessarily because the official line was never questioned. And people like yourself aided and abetted in the demonising and sidelining of those who had the nerve and the courage to go to the places the BBC and others wouldn’t go to when they tried to get their first hand and far more accurate message out.
Here’s one to take yourself away with. Has any western outlet reported that Nawaf al-Basheer has capitulated in Syria? Do you even know who that is or why his capitulation is so important?
Has any western media outlet bothered to go to East Aleppo and interview any of those people they claimed were going to be raped and murdered in an orgy of violence that would be unleashed by the Syrian Army? Do you even wonder why it hasn’t happened?
You apply the same bar to the really existing situation whereby the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and a wheen of others uncritically reported as news the views and opinions of known terrorists when the views of those terrorists just happened to coincide with western governments’ policies of regime change?
Well, I would, but western governments don’t really have a dog in that fight so there are no western governments’ policies for those agencies to endorse – unlike the Russian government, which is actually involved in the conflict and had its indiscriminate bombardment of east Aleppo endorsed not only by its propaganda service (well duh) but by various commenters on this blog.
Well, you say you would. But you don’t and you didn’t. Nuff said.
You use Yahoo as news source?
No wonder you’ve never heard of Cockburn, Pilger, Fisk, Greenwald, Galloway, Bartlett, Chomsky,………..
False conclusion there Paul. Still wondering about your view on the appropriateness of RT’s German specialist….
I have never used him as a source.
I don’t know of him.
You’re going to provide a link that provides verifiable back-ground info on that one. Just saying.
Hi Bill, I provided a link to a news source (21.3.1.1) and asked Paul his opinion on what the news source said. He’s pretty free to reply and argue the news source and/or my terminology is incorrect if he wishes (you will see that he did indeed question the credibility of the news source).
As for the question I asked him – ‘is it ok if RT has a neo-nazi as an expert on Germany?’ That’s asking for his opinion. It could even be a hypothetical
But anyway – Background to the man in question – here’s his wiki profile, not in English but google translate provides the gist. I’m not linking to any of his websites, sorry. I’m sure you can find them if you wish and make your own mind up about his political orientation, especially given his writing and editing for publications labelled “extreme-right” in Germany
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Ochsenreiter
Interesting (in a not very nice way)
So from what I can gather from a quick ‘once over’, he’s a chauvinistic nationalist (like Le Pen or Farage), but unlike those two politicians he has no public power beyond his influence as a journalist/writer/commentator.
As far as oxygen goes, do you reckon his (to me) fairly reactionary views get granted more or less air time by RT than say Farage’s get on the BBC and other UK mainstream media outlets?
I’ve never seen the guy or heard of him before, so I’m asking – does RT interview him on stuff he claims knowledge of – such as middle east politics, or do they grant him a platform for (say) proselytising xenophobia?
Beyond Ochsenreiter, is the suggestion that hosts or interviewees be vetted in order that they pass a “correctness” test? That’s a very…I mean that road stinks to such high heavens I’m not even going close to it to see how slippery it might be.
Awarding airtime to (say) uncritically push reactionary right wing tosh, is one thing. Awarding airtime to someone with knowledge of (say) the Middle East who happens to be a reactionary right wing toss pot is another.
“Labour is talking up Greg O’Connor as one of their candidates.”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/if-greg-oconnor-is-answer-wtf-was.html
/facepalm. I guess I’ll have to suck that up seeing as how I argue for letting Labour be what they are.
I”m not sure that Labour are talking up O’Connor so much as keeping head of the rumour machine.
I quite like the guy , be a good few votes in him for labour, the greens will just have to get out there and make sure they get enough votes to pull labour left.
Greg O’Connor?
Gawd NO NO NO NO
thats unbeliveable stupid , stupid
If thats true (i cant believe it) then Labour has just confirmed they really dont have any idea what is happening outside of some tiny fantasy bubble they inhabit
FCOL
Admittedly, I’d find it pretty hard to put a tick next to his name on a ballot paper myself. But if the Labour Party isn’t the party for a union representative who’s made a name for himself through staunch and sometimes unpopular promotion of his members’ interests, it should retire the name. File this one under “Suck it up, soldier.”
I don’t think Labour means at any cost though.
For pm it does.
What’s the cost? If the cost is that some won’t vote Labour if it has this representative of organised labour in its ranks, maybe that’s a cost it has to live with if it wants to call itself the Labour Party.
The cost is the other side of the conflict that he represents: yes he was an advocate for his union, but part of his job (as he saw it) was lobbying hard to give the enforcement arm of the state stronger powers and more weapons.
Similarly, some people might be conflicted if a former president of the union for workers in cosmetic vivisection research, who made a media profile lobbying for weaker ethics oversight and exemption from SPCA inspection, was suggested as running for Labour.
Hence the finding it hard to put a tick next to his name on a ballot paper (glad he’s not standing in my electorate). He still fits the spec sheet for a Labour candidate, though, regardless of what I felt about his TV appearances.
I’m tempted to argue that his specific lobbying interests also ticked the “disqualifying” box for Labour. Maybe if it becomes a dead cert.
Compared to some of the outandout rightwing careerists already in the caucus he’d be a step up.
Cost probably wasn’t the right word, although maybe cost to Labour’s integrity. I meant that just because someone is very good in one area, if they are really shit in another that shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I guess I’ll have to suck that up seeing as how I argue for letting Labour be what they are.”
He’ll be a prop…. if, perchance, Labour leans left.
He’ll keep them on the straight and narrow.
Glenn Greenwald: You are not obligated through patriotism to believe the CIA.
‘Russia’s our biggest problem.
/
Deplorables starting to lose faith in their messiah.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/white-nationalists-trump-losing-faith/index.html
If you needed any more proof that neo-liberals are psychopaths.
And they knight people like Jones and Talley.
Audio – Sir Bob Jones talks to ZB’s Chris Lynch
NZ Herald article. Sir Bob Jones labels homeless people a ‘disgrace to society’
Some viewing for Jones and his ilk.
And another documentary to remind us why we have such poverty in our country.
John Pilger.
The Issue Is Not Trump, It’s Us
An excerpt.
Isn’t it great that things are going to change for the…oh wait, holy war and torture.
/
In June 2015, Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas congressman, headlined a “God and Country Rally” at Wichita’s Summit Church. “To worship our lord and celebrate our nation at the same place is not only our right, it is our duty,” he began. Pompeo’s speech was a mishmash of domestic culture war callouts and dark warnings about the danger of radical Islam. He cited an inflammatory prayer that a pastor named the Rev. Joe Wright once delivered before the Kansas State Legislature: “America had worshipped other Gods and called it multiculturalism. We’d endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.” He lamented government efforts to “rip faith from our schools” and then segued immediately into a discussion of the jihadi threat: “This evil is all around us.” Pompeo concluded by describing politics as “a never-ending struggle … until the rapture.”
[…]
Amid the fire hose of lunacy that is the Trump transition, however, Pompeo’s extremism has been overlooked. It’s worth pausing to appreciate the fact that America’s CIA will shortly be run by a man who appears to view American foreign policy as a vehicle for holy war.
Like Trump, Pompeo has been a fierce critic of efforts to rein in the CIA’s torture program and a champion of keeping Guantanamo Bay open. While in Congress, he was a frequent guest on the radio show of famously paranoid Frank Gaffney, a man disinvited from the right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference after claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated its parent organization, the American Conservative Union.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/mike_pompeo_trump_s_pick_for_the_cia_wants_a_holy_war.html
btw, your link’s jiggered, too.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/jan/16/new-studies-show-rex-tillerson-is-wrong-about-climate-risks
not an encouraging read…