Great, the west has started financial world war 3 with Russia. And this week Obama is going to sign into law the provision of lethal US military aid to Ukraine. Which is the US way of provoking Russia into sending armoured columns into Ukraine. Because just as the US would not allow nuclear missiles with a 10 minute flight time to Washington DC to be based in Cuba, Russia is certainly not going to allow similar in Ukraine.
And at the time when the Russkies had nuke missiles in Cuba, the Yanks had nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy pointed at Russia. Although the deal was mutual removal, when the Soviet leadership removed their missiles from Cuba, the US government (Kennedy) kept theirs in Turkey and Italy.
When you’re imperialist top-dog you make up the rules to suit yourself, as in the days when Britannia ruled the waves and waived the rules.
Not sure what conclusions I’d draw from it, apart from sanctions can destroy the russian economy but won’t necessarily effect any political change. The Russian economy is dire, I’ve seen people blabbing on about how insulated Russia will be bvecause of their foreign reserves – these have declined 20% in 2014, 10% in the last 3 weeks. Previous examples of currency collapse show you can burn through all those in a month if things get dire. The Ruble will trade at 200 within 3 months. Just rewind to 1998. Banks have stopped quoting on USDRUB – that is the start of the death spiral. While the fall in the ruble insulates somewhat against the fall in oil, every other import becomes unobtainable for the average Russian. The real problem in Russia is too much is being siphoned off by Putin and his cronies.
Putin is a declared billionaire and will have plenty of undeclared cash/gold and assets also stashed away in foreign Countries. Russia revolves on corrupt practices, it’s normal.
I have a Russian girlfriend that studied management here. Apart from being stunningly beautiful, smart & quick witted, she was from a wealthy family. I once questioned her about where the wealth came from and joked ” your old man isn’t involved with the Russian mafia is he.” she laughed and said “everyone is linked to the mafia and black market, how you think my parents come here to NZ once a year and me travel home or holiday in Europe every year, it’s part of our culture.” She invited me to go out for dinner with them next time they come over. Her mother was warm and bubbly, her father was reserved and serious and spent alot of time talking stern on his mobile phone. He was big and tall and had the straightest back I’ve ever seen. I asked her later after we dropped them at their motel, your dad looks like an army man, she laughed and replied ex army General who fought with honour in Afghanistan, he has lots of medals. She told me the ex army men just transferred the power they had to running businesses. Sounded more like racketeering to me.
You just have to look at Putin for your answer, he make the rest of the World leaders look like pussy cats. Coupled with the Russian’s close assoiation with China and I’d say no match whatsoever CV.
@ Skinny
It’s what you do when there is the opportunity. This country was stripped of great public entities which were bought relatively cheaply by fast guys, when Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble got the wind in their sails. Serious money was made when they either resold them at a profit or built other aspects into them.
As soon as neo lib came in NZ and some top private positions were created in the place of public, a new guy in Auckland was off overseas with his wife and I think they managed to find hotel rooms at $2,000 a night. It seemed like a triumphal blow out at the cost of the stupid what they seemed to view as the ordinary mass of yobboes in the street. Their mantra was, and is, government can’t do anything right. The greed-gatherers got drunk on power and opportunity here just as they have in Russia.
Yeah Fay & his side kick merchant banker partner duped the taxpayer. I remember Fay’s first lieutenant drunkenly boasting at my sisters wedding how well they had done out of asset stripping our railways. I physically had to restrain my brother (who was a loco driver & got sucked into taking transrail shares by smooth talking Preeble) from knocking him out. This clown turned up at the swanky reception with a young hussey in tow and his own bottles of Dom. His ex was there and he started making a right Charlie of himself harassing her. My other brother and myself done the honours grabbed champagne Charlie and through him in the pool to cool off, much to everyone’s laughter. He stormed off, jumped in his porsche, dropped a burnout down the road like a spoilt brat. Yes plenty of money grabbing happening in the 80’s.
I’ve seen people blabbing on about how insulated Russia will be bvecause of their foreign reserves – these have declined 20% in 2014, 10% in the last 3 weeks. Previous examples of currency collapse show you can burn through all those in a month if things get dire.
Pah! Russian gold reserves have been climbing steeply all through 2012-2013-2014, including record purchases in the last couple of months. Whatever inaccurate and propagandised sources you are reading, you should get new ones.
Russian gold reserves might be increasing but not their total reserves.
I wouldn’t rely on ZeroHedge for great insight. “Tyler Durden” has been calling for a market correction in the S&P500 since about 1400, though he went remarkably quite around 1700. great gossip site but that’s what you’d expect from a convicted Bulgarian inside trader. His view on the world is always distinctly bearish – to paraphrase many others he has called about 35 of the last 2 market corrections. And he has a distinct political bias – which is fine, just correct for that.
Russia has been a buyer of gold, latest data I can see (31/10/14 via IMF) is that their total reserves are USD416.2 billion, of which gold holdings are 37.575 million oz. At $1193 per/oz that gold is worth about $44.8 billion, so a bit more than 10% of reserves. A ton of gold sounds impressive but is “only” worth around US$38.7 mm. So a purchase of 77 tons of gold is ~3 billion. Not too significant in the scale of Russia’s reserves or in the daily turnover of gold trading – London bullion exchange clears around $18 billion of physical gold a day, then add in futures trading.
Russia has around US$700 billion of foreign debt with 125 billion due in 2015 – that won’t roll over. Before the current turmoil the Russian govt was planning on spending 1.5 trillion rubles over the next 3 years, will be a lot more now.
Just wait and see how this current ruble devaluation pans out – right now Russia is experiencing full on capital flight – when the dust settles we’ll see what position a) their reserves are in, b) domestic inflation, c) growth. I’m picking all 3 will be disastrous. Plenty of smarter people than me are seeing a bleak outlook.
I don’t think Russia will disappear, they’ve survived worse than this. The first link I put up today is a much more nuanced view of what might happen. But equally Russia won’t win either – fascist states never do, but they can lash out militarily.
Be careful who you are calling “fascist” – it is the declining US empire which is an amalgamation of corporate, financial, governmental and military power that lashes out internationally.
If you do a checklist of the classical signs of a fascist state, no major nation ticks as many as Putin’s Russia.
The US has got a long way to decline. Russian GDP is now about $950 billion.
Here’s how that compares to some other entities:
State of North Rhine Westphalia $800 billion
City of Los Angeles $630 billion
City of New York $1.1 billion
Chicago+ Boston + Philadelphia $1.02 trillion
States of Washington + Maryland + Indiana$ 1 trillion
State of Texas 1.4 trillion
To really put it in perspective, Russian nominal GDP is now about 6 times larger than NZ.
TA when you talk to CR you are allowed to use initials. But not HH as that may be construed as being flippant. You’ll catch on to the finer nuances in time.
#dirtypolitics is, of course, the hashtag version of Dirty Politics, the title of a book by screaming conspiracy theorist Nicky Hager, whose insistence on pursuing his rights has currently brought the entire New Zealand legal system to a halt. The aftermath of the book’s publication also gave rise to Whaledump (third) and Rawshark (eighth).
“I can only suppose that a hacker has penetrated the special Google voting software,” said a near-comatose Brown. “I’ve asked Pete George to investigate.”
Meanwhile, while the NZ pm is trying to spin the events as justification for enhanced surveillance, the Aus pm is noting the abject failure of their newly upgraded system.
Despite multiple charges against him, obvious signs of instability, and calls from within his own community for his investigation, and he himself virtually jumping up and down saying “Pick Me! I’m going to do something!” – though “known to them”, the deranged loner was “Not on the appropriate watchlists”.
“If I can be candid with you, that is the question that we were asking ourselves around the national security committee of the cabinet today,” Mr Abbott said.
“How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history, not be on the appropriate watch lists, and how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?”
NSW Premier Mike Baird echoed this: “We are all outraged that this guy was on the street … the community has every right to feel upset. I’m incredibly upset,” he said.
I was wondering if someone has worked out an Israeli body count rate of exchange. Perhaps 1 Israeli = 20 Palestinians, 5 houses, 2 olive groves, 1 school, and 1 hospital.
It’s a tough world currency this balancing the political values for each side, though fairly stable in its extreme unfairness.
With more state house evictions coming soon – Let me keep reminding people – YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Neoliberalisms madness has infected the whole western world.
I’ve been listening to Mr Ludbrook, president of the Northland Fed farmers saying that because the deaths on quad bikes died of crushing injuries and not of head injuries, that the wearing of helmets should be a personal issue. This in response to a Marlborough couple getting $20,000 fines each for repeated refusal to wear quad bike helmets, purchasable for about $120.
Surely the fact that people don’t die of head injuries is a tribute to the wearing of helmets? All those people who hit their heads on the ground, rocks, trees, posts etc have survived- great.
Or is he saying that there are lots of people not wearing helmets and having accidents but their heads don’t get involved fatally?
Or is he saying that the people who died of crushing injuries weren’t wearing helmets but got no head injury?
Or they were wearing helmets but got no fatal head injury – which is what I’d expect if they wore helmets?
It defies logic to argue that helmet wearing should be a personal issue because people who die on quad bikes die of crush injuries but didn’t get head injuries because they wore helmets.
In other words, can he argue logically that the absence of death by head injury had nothing to do with helmets?
I think the man is a libertarian fishing for arguments to not be forced to wear a helmet on a quad bike, especially when repeated refusals might cost the offender $20,000.
He’s been on National radio, but the interviewer did not challenge his logic nor did the other side get an airing as to 1) why people should wear helmets on quad bikes, 2) why they should be compelled and 3). why a fine of $20,000 should apply and be awarded.
Nor did the particular aspects of this case get discussed. In all fairness to the judge, the lawmakers, the enforcing agencies, the court system, farm employees, farming family members and the taxpayer, the issue should have been more widely discussed rather than only permit a muddled-thinking libertarian talk about being reasonable.
I didn’t hear the Ludbrook interview, just the news about the fines. I suspect their will be a RW backlash about the “unfairness” of the fines.
My thought at the time was the couple had been warned several times about not wearing their helmets on their quad bikes, so they had plenty of opportunity to prevent receiving the fines. Why didn’t they comply? Serious question.
The agriculture sector is up there for workplace injuries:
and I seem to recall Helen Kelly from the CTU mentioning the highest rates for workplace death last year occurred in this sector, ahead of the forestry sector.
So why would you want to chance it by not wearing Personal Protective Equipment? What do you have to lose by simply just putting your PPE on in the workplace, the farm? Your stubborn pride?
My concern is not for those two fined but for workers and families in the industry.
I was a farm worker for three years, and safety was an issue. I can imagine the 18 year old farm worker told by his non helmet wearing boss, or the child told by their non-helmet wearing mother or father, to get on the quad bike and go do a job. No helmet provided, no helmet available, and no expectation that a prudent person should wear one.
The element of compulsion gives protection to the vulnerable. As it did with compulsory bike helmet use for our helmet wearing kids who longer got jeered at by the foolish but could quote the law and find safety with it.
“My concern is not for those two fined but for workers and families in the industry.”
Absolutely mac1. It’s those with the responsibility for others safety (eg, boss, parent as above) that need to lead by example. It’s their duty to promote a safety culture.
Too often in NZ, workplace H&S protocols are cynically referred to as tick box exercises. Too many times I’ve seen employers grudgingly and speedily go through an H&S procedure with a new employee without any thought for the reason or importance of it, and seem to miss the concept that they need to promote a safety culture not just for the sake of compliance but for safety itself.
mac1
Talking about bike helmets, I was surprised at the fervent negative attitude of a man in a bike hiring business who says that his European customers won’t wear them. He talks about Netherlands where nobody wears helmets. They also have a very flat country and are more self centrolled and disciplined than we are in my opinion.
I have heard others putting down helmets. Why do they think we now have them?
Some men are just so narcissistic and self-centred that they have trouble obeying any rules and guidelines.
No doubt the non helmet wearing promotors also expect the rest of us to pay their medical costs. Funny how individual choice is not equated with individual responsibility.
For that argument to have any weight you would have to provide stats and analysis on car accident head inuries that could be prevented by helmet wearing.
Hey I aint a professor having to prove some thesis.
Try anecdote as a first step. Average open road car crash – how many without head injuries? I would suggest very few. Certainly more head injuries than non-head injuries. Makes the argument for car helmets more compelling than the argument for cycle helmets, actual ..
“Try anecdote as a first step. Average open road car crash – how many without head injuries? I would suggest very few. Certainly more head injuries than non-head injuries. Makes the argument for car helmets more compelling than the argument for cycle helmets, actual..”
I think that prohibition laws are based on stats and risk vs benefit. So we don’t reduce the open road limit to 50km/hr because the lives lost at 100km are not worth the lots time if we all drove more slowly. In order to make that judgement for society as a whole, the numbers would have to be crunched.
Anecdata is fine in some situations, but in this case I really do think you’d have to compare head injuries preventable by helmets in cars and weight that up against other factors like moveability, head space, inconvenience etc.
If we really wanted to reduce head injuries in car accidents we would lower the speed limit and redesign roads and put check points outside every pub car park.
I think the only reason this hasn’t been attempted is the same sort of reason that alcohol is given a free run in our society – it would make too many people grumpy. Cyclists are a small group but car drivers are everyone.
I think the argument and the stats and facts would win but people don’t always like facts and stats, they prefer to stick head in sand, fingers in ears, and cry “nya nyah nyah – cant hear you…”
Not if the helmets were light like cycle helmets or slim and close fitting, or even made of glass so that sight is not obstructed……
Seems to be fine for motor-racing drivers and they need far more of those convenience things like manouervering (can never spell that word) and wide vision and quick physical actions than those of us dawdling around in Honda citys and Hillman avengers..
Each year over 600,000 people are treated in emergency departments (EDs) for bicycle-related injuries and 824 die from this type of injury. Head injury is the most common cause of death and serious disability in bicycle-related crashes; head injuries are involved in about 60 percent of the deaths, and 30 percent of the bicycle-related ED visits.
Of course, the reason why we’re seeing airbags in cars is because people would refuse to wear helmets in them.
I heard this song on the radio this morning. It is an evocative piece of atmospheric electronica music written for Eric Garner, the man who died at the hands of Police, earlier on in the year. You might recall they suspected he was selling tax free fags.
We Are Temporary explain:
“The five-minute 22-second piece includes some of Garner’s last words, as recorded on cellphone video, on July 17 to the NYPD, seconds before one of its officers put Garner in a chokehold and killed him. At the 2:25 mark, the bass and drums cut out as Garner can be heard telling the officers, “I’m minding my business; please, just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone.”
It’s not an easy listen, says Roberts, who’s 35 and lives in Bushwick. “It is a little manipulative. I’m aware of the fact that Garner’s life and the situation might be more complex than the video shows, but I think what I wanted to do is allow the music to create empathy for a person who was dying.
“For me, there’s something really desperate and childlike in ‘please,’ and I wanted that to come across.” ”
‘What can you say about a society whose food production must be hidden from public view? In which the factory farms and slaughterhouses supplying much of our diet must be guarded like arsenals to prevent us from seeing what happens there? We conspire in this concealment: we don’t want to know. We deceive ourselves so effectively that much of the time we barely notice that we are eating animals, even during once-rare feasts, such as Christmas, which are now scarcely distinguished from the rest of the year.’
Mr Murphy, addressing Labour party members at the Glasgow Emirates Arena, declared: “This is a fresh start for Scottish Labour. Scotland is changing and so too must Scottish Labour. I’m ambitious for our party because I’m ambitious for our country.”
“The majority are fulfilled, getting on, getting by, being successful. A minority are falling behind, denied opportunity, trapped, unable to escape the hardship of their upbringing.
“That inequality is wrong and it is my driving purpose, it is our driving purpose, it is the Scottish Labour Party’s driving purpose to end that type of inequality once and for all.”
Mr Murphy said the best way to tackle poverty was to boost the economy.
“The most effective anti poverty measure is a successful economy,” he said.
“It’s about backing businesses, it’s about creating jobs, because if redistribution is our aim, which it is, then we need more wealth not less. We want more entrepreneurs, not fewer. A growing middle class that more families are able to join.
“The debate about how we spend our wealth starts with how we earn it.”
He sounds just like FJK.
“It’s about backing businesses, it’s about creating jobs, because if redistribution is our aim, which it is, then we need more wealth not less.”
We just need to wait for that “more wealth” to be made before the redistribution starts. Somehow, I don’t think we should hold our breath.
Presenting Russia’s banks: now cut off from the outside world as the second cold war goes nuclear, at least when it comes to the financial system:
Such banks as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. this week started rejecting requests from institutional clients to engage in certain ruble-denominated repurchase agreements and other transactions designed to raise cash, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bankers and traders say the moves to restrict some ruble transactions have become increasingly widespread among major Western financial institutions this week, even as the same institutions continue to try to profit from the ruble’s wild swings. The moves, which the banks are deploying to protect themselves against further swings in the currency, have the potential to add to the strain on Russia’s financial system.
Goldman in recent days largely stopped doing longer-term ruble-denominated repurchase agreements, or repos, in which securities or other assets are swapped in exchange for cash, said a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street bank is still doing short-duration ruble repos, those that mature in less than a year, this person said.
Not sure who you want me to have sympathy for here.
This US corporate action won’t kill them – it will drive their clients and their assets into the hands of China. That isn’t in US interests either state or corporate.
An excellent write up. Just glanced at it then was hooked.
The New Yorker:
The Big Kill
New Zealand’s crusade to rid itself of mammals.
By Elizabeth Kolbert …”Sirocco’s chaperone, a Department of Conservation ranger named Alisha Sherriff, had brought along a little metal container, which she passed among the visitors. Inside was half a cup’s worth of Sirocco’s shit.
“Have a good sniff,” she suggested.
“It’s earthy!” one woman exclaimed.
“I think it smells smoky, with notes of honey,” Sherriff said. When the container came to me, I couldn’t detect any honey, but the bouquet did strike me as earthy, with hints of newly mown hay. Sherriff had also brought along a ziplock bag with some of Sirocco’s feathers. These, too, had a strong, sweetish scent.
New Zealand birds tend to smell, which was not a problem when the islands’ top predators were avian, since birds hunt by sight. But, as mammals hunt with their noses, it’s become yet another liability…..” http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/22/big-kill
Looked up Sirocco NZs spokesbird and after a few shots of a wise and questing kakapo who pops up but yek! The well known conservationist, laying down his life for the planet.
No that’s my point. It’s Key looking confidentially enthusiastic – Smith might have appeared further on but I cut the connection fast. Too much yek is toxic, I have to watch my health.
The authorities warn about legionella when handling compost etc, and a mask should be worn. As yet no health alerts have gone out about watching and listening to yek but I think they are overdue. However it should be added, that there is likely to be a window of contamination with yek as in ebola. Trouble is no-one is sure of how to know when the threshhold of infection is crossed.
In a regularly article in the ‘Rural News’ titled agtwits called a “irreverant and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the rural world”
sbrowninggreen:Don’t you you just love MMP when a tree-hugging,organic-munching,treat Ebola-with-homeopathy nutjod like me gets into Parliament and is given the green party’s responsibility for ag#whythegreenssuck#iamaclown.
Damienoconnormp: So the self serving unionist beat the gaggling gay for the leadership of the party viola,I’m back on the back bench again.#evenwheniwnilose#whatdidisaywrong
@littleandrewlabour:I have little interest in farming,Little to offer agriculture and Little chance of changing labours anti-farming attitude. I guess I’m to little to late.#redflag#unionforever
Johnkeypm: I was going to text Andrew Little to congratulate him on winning the Labour leadership.However, I can’t because it would mean that I’m in proactive contact with a vile,poisonous, delusional loser.#delete message
#roflmao
I’ve copied as accurately as possible seems pretty nasty in spots for what’s meant to be light hearted
Sounds as if the writer has played rugby a lot and gone straight back on the field after being slightly concussed too many times. It has cumulative effects I’ve heard. Add regular jars of ale and after a while of that, anything that differs slightly from the known and prescribed norm is strange and amusing.
It reeks of attack to me .further on in the same paper there’s this
“WANTED” A Political home for labour agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor. A solid, talented and knowledgeable performer, he has been hung out to dry by his own party which seems to have no interest in agriculture apart from imposing a cgt and cuddling with the Greens who essentially want a return to peasant farming.
This is evidence of the ignorance in the farming sector.
It is no wonder that for generations they have claimed they want to leave the land in a better state than when they got it, yet the evidence shows that they have done exactly the opposite.
See claiming all farmers are bad just confirms some of what fukwits like who ever wrote that stuff i posted above say about the left, there are plenty of good farmers doing good stuff.
Of course there are, including a big chunk of mine …
It was a generalisation and I didn’t say all farmers are bad – I merely looked at the claims they have on average been making for the last couple of generations or so, and looked at the average evidence around those claims, and come up with an answer to their claim.
And if I might be so bold as to generalise even more – I see this all the time in our circles. That which you outlined in your original comment above is, imo, the average view of the average farmer (including the bad ones, and excluding the good ones). They are very pig-headed and stubborn. They spend so much time in their one world that they cannot fathom anything different ( or so says my opinion, after most of life in and out of such circles) – which is of course a very human trait and if I was now a farmer I would likely be doing the same ….
If you understand the terminologies than next step is to learn how to use them properly.
As for not believing my claim – non problema. It is my experience but you haven’t been by my side during that time so I can see how it can be difficult.
@ b waghorn
It just reeks of some of the empty minds we get here regularly. Bereft of any sense of how little they utilise their own intelligence they build themselves up by mocking those who do. Unwilling to test their own ideas and find them wanting, they hold onto untested myths which they accept as sureties, and then throw scorn on those who look outside the square for different possibilities.
Those people consider different ideas that when tested may prove unsuitable. Those who never dare to think out something individually, only to find it doesn’t work, or isn’t correct, remain safe, always protecting themselves from the scorn their type pours out on the thinkers and questers.
The reason I put these things here is to highlight what turns up in rural papers on occasion, in the hope that if any readers here that are linked to Labour and the Greens might come up with ways to counter it.
I was watching Newsroom, a US tv show which traverses many issues. On this episode one of the journalists is interviewing someone who has created an App enabling “citizen journalists” to post the whereabouts of celebrities on a map for the titilation of fellow citizens.
It turns out it was based on a real website called gawker stalker and a real interview. It made me think of the constant pandering to base human behaviour that is substituting journalism.
It reaaly is worth watching, especially for the website owners reactions.
From Mohammad Reza Alizadehfard: Syd Hostage: Who was Haron Monis?
1. He was born in Iran in a city called Borojerd.
2. His birth name is Mohammad Hassan Manteghi Borojerdi.
3. He was the director of a travel/tourism agency in Iran
4. He stole about $200,000 from his customers and escaped to Australia.
5. Iranin authorities through Interpol police asked Australian
government to hand him back to Iranian judiciary system. However,
Australia refuses to do so as He claimed he is a political refugee and
Iranian regime prosecuted him because of his liberal/democratic beliefs.
Australian government gave him political asylum in 1996.
6. In 2007
Sheikh Kamal Mosalmani, head of Australian Shia Council, wrote a letter
to ASIO warning them about his suspicious activities.
7. He presented himself as a Shia cleric with no confirmed official or formal education.
8. In 2014 Nov, he announced on his website renouncing Shia Islam and
paying allegiance to “the Caliphate of time Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi”, the
head of ISIL. Australian government was aware of his conversion and
support for ISIL in the last month.
(This the exact Arabic quote from his website:
أطيعوا الله و أطيعوا الرسول و أولي الأمر منكم
البيعة مع الله و رسوله و أمير المؤمنين – أبايع الله و رسوله و خليفة المسلمين
الحمد لله رب العالمين و الصلاة و السلام على نبينا محمد و على اله و
أصحابه أجمعين و التابعين منهم والسلام على أمير المؤمنين خليفة المسلمين
إمام عصرنا الحاضر و الحمد لله الذي جعل لنا خليفة في الأرض و إماما يدعونا
إلى الإسلام و الإعتصام بحبل الله سبحانه و تعالى. و الحمد لله الذي
شرّفني ببيعة إمام زماننا . إنّ الذين يبايعون خليفة المسلمين فإنما
يبايعون الله و رسوله يد الله فوق أيديهم . و قال رسول الله صلى عليه و سلم
من مات و لم يعرف إمام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية . والحمد لله الذي لم يجعلني
من الذين ماتوا و لم يعرفوا إمام زمانهم . و الحمد لله على نعمة الإيمان و
كفى بها نعمة و أفوض أمري إلى الله إنّ الله بصير بالعباد
والسلام على من اتبع الهدى
هارون – سيدني أستراليا
الإثنين 24 محرم 1436
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
في الزمن السابق قد رفعت راية غير راية الإسلام فأستغفر الله و أتوب اليه و
أقسم بالله العظيم أن لا أرفع راية غير راية رسول الله صل الله عليه و سلم
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
9. And as you all may know he has been charged for writing hate letters
to Australian soldiers ‘family, 40 sexual assaults and killing of his
wife. The last but not least he was known to have psychological issues.
So, If we want to play blame game who is the one to be blamed first and foremost?
%————————————————————
From me: While real political refugees get treated like shit, it looks like criminals who steal from people the government doesn’t like get the red carpet treatment. Compare this case with what happened to Ahmed Zaoui in Aotearoa.
In the Alice books they have a tea party. I think they end up by picking on a dormouse which has been quietly sleeping and presents an easy target for malicious behaviour. When the tea party protagonists have used their cups and spoons, they move on to the next setting. But of course they eventually go round again to settings with old dirty utensils.
It seems that some people with excessive powers are incapable of cleaning up their act. They carry their dirty habits with them, and the downward slide in standards and ‘hygiene’ goes on. More powers just increases the slovenly moral behaviour.
Little must be fuming having to put up with these fools, and he has every reason to be the angry man the right are trying to portray him as. Labour still need to sweep a lot more out the door before they will even be in the game next election, some of these old heads have to much baggage.
Experience is a good thing for Lawyers, Tradesmen, Accounts etc, but not necessarily in Hookers or Politicians because eventually the Baggage gets to heavy to carry and the makeup starts to run.
Previously an outspoken critic of Iranian government, was interviewed by Australian media in 2001, loved Western society…
As predicted, the suspect amid the “Sydney Siege,” has long been on the radar of Australian law enforcement, as well as a frequent visitor to Australia’s court system.
Before that, however, he came to Australia as a political refugee, an opponent of what he called the “Iranian regime,” and was even interviewed by Australia’s ABC network in 2001 as part of an ongoing anti-Iranian propaganda campaign. ….
Saddam Hussein was a poster boy for a while, then he lost favour, was hunted and captured and is now dead. So all malefactors can find a golden period of amnesty and tolerance insufficient to make them happy and give them a long life.
That Sydney guy was trouble with a capital T. But Oz politicians and spooks found him useful for their propaganda machine, and gave him a long rope, and the public have suffered from that. The deaths result from the hands of their Oz two-faced, machiavellian political masters who are subservient to an anti Middle East hegemony.
I really, really, really hope Elizabeth Warren runs for US President in 2016. She’s the only one not afraid to attack the banks, and even Obama — her own party’s president. She may be one of the only ones left not bought and paid for by Wall St.
Don’t kid yourself. She’s as corrupt and as heartless as anyone in Congress….
At a town hall in August, she defended Israel’s shelling of targets in Gaza, saying that Israel had a right to defend itself against attacks from Hamas.
“America has a very special relationship with Israel,” she said, according to the Cape Cod Times. “Israel lives in a very dangerous part of the world, and a part of the world where there aren’t many liberal democracies and democracies that are controlled by the rule of law. And we very much need an ally in that part of the world.”
In this article [1], Bloomberg (Ye Xie, Katia Porzecanski and Pietro D. Pitts) wonder who will seize Venezuelan assets if the government defaults.
A better question would be “How will Bloomberg’s reporting change when Venezuela doesn’t default?”
The global economic meltdown that took place a few years ago, and from which we are still recovering, answered for us. The reporting won’t change at all.
Being an elite investor, big credit rating agency or highly regarded economist means never having to say you’re sorry. It is quite a prestigious group that couldn’t see (or wouldn’t admit to seeing) gargantuan housing bubbles in the USA and elsewhere that led to worst global economic recession since WWII. The big credit rating agencies gave mortgage backed securities the highest possible ratings just before they blew up. The Federal Reserve of Boston put out a paper [2] exploring why the vast majority of the professional economists proved as useless as “the markets”.
We must add to the list of the “never-accountable-for-anything” corporate news agencies like Bloomberg who hype the “concerns” of all these people. The appalling track record is always a non-issue.
The fact that our media are not reporting the reasons and geopolitics behind the collapse in oil prices shows that our media is not telling us what’s really going going on.
Our media, not Russia’s, is the one we concern ourselves about, as it impacts on our own perception of reality more.
Local body voting papers went in the post on Friday, and should be arriving over the course of this week (mine arrived today). And if you care about climate change, I urge you to vote. While local government seems irrelevant and out of touch (like a whine of old white ...
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...
NZ Energy and Environment Business Week reports (in Scoop) that the government is finally moving on reforming the Crown Minerals Act, including banning mining on conservation land and repealing the hated Anadarko Amendment:The Government is planning to change the Crown Minerals Act’s purpose from “promoting” mining in light of changing ...
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ...
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that if the Deputy Prime Minister has indicated progress is slow for welfare reform, an appropriate and timely response would be for the Government to urgently adopt the simple and effective changes outlined in ...
Leading accounting software provider MYOB has welcomed the Coalition Government’s focus on innovation with the announcement of new tax incentives and investment rules targeted at small business. ...
IrrigationNZ welcomes the Government’s Economic Plan for a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy released today, but says a comprehensive, nationwide strategy for New Zealand’s water is missing, and could underpin the country’s well-being. ...
International Day of Older Persons is a day to celebrate older people – to highlight the value of all older people and to promote dignity and respect. The 2019 international theme is “The Journey to Age Equality“. ...
One in six New Zealanders did not complete the 2018 Census - a result which has already led to the resignation of the Government's chief statistician. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has cautioned the nation and policy makers on the 2018 Census figures released today and indicated that while some work has been done the fact that Maori remained unrepresented as a national figure in the tally on the day ...
A ground-breaking study which looks at how Māori and Samoan peoples describe their experience of youth justice across three different but comparable countries is calling for participants. ...
New Zealand’s 34th Census of Population and Dwellings was held on 6 March 2018. We combined data from the census forms with administrative data to create the 2018 Census dataset, which meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure ...
Results from the 2018 Census show New Zealand’s cultural make-up is becoming more diverse after high population growth in the past five years, Stats NZ said today. ...
Population growth since 2013 has resulted in one new general electorate in the North Island but no change to the number of Māori electorates for the next general election, Stats NZ said today. ...
As the public submissions process draws to a close, and with more than 900 submissions received to date, the Royal Commission is still urging people to come forward if they have information which may help with its inquiries. “We have twice extended ...
Amending the rules on black hole expenditure and loss continuity shows excellent judgment from the Government, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
If we want New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, the Government needs to increase benefits, remove sanctions, individualise benefits, and fix abatement rates now, says Child Poverty Action Group and ActionStation . ...
Today the we have another chance to do the right thing to really lift incomes for thousands of people in this country who are missing out, says The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora. ...
Saving the ocean’s environment continues tomorrow as Ngati Ruanui Iwi takes on Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) who wish to mine iron sand off the South Taranaki Bight in the Tasman Sea in what has been a five-year battle. ...
Wellington - 23 September 2019 -- Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and Greenpeace are in the Court of Appeal in Wellington this week, defending last year’s High Court ruling that quashed Trans-Tasman Resources’ (TTR) consent to mine the South ...
“Climate change is here - we all need to do our part.” Monday 23rd September 2019. Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Climate change is happening. CEAC – compendium facts tribute to ‘Climate Change Week’ https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/115098866/exceptionally-rare-warming-above-antarctica-may-be-affecting-nzs-weather ...
Criminal law changes are now increasingly being used by politicians as a vote gathering tool pandering to lynch mob special interest groups. To look tough against crime, govts constantly increase penalties, create new crimes, and make it harder to get ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, University of Melbourne Australia’s water rats, or Rakali, are one of Australia’s beautiful but lesser-known native rodents. And these intelligent, semi-aquatic rats have revealed another talent: they ...
Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says the government has had "meaningful" discussions with Fletchers on how to resolve the situation at Ihumātao. ...
Joan Fleming on Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry, the humming, house-like opus by poet and champion of poets, Paula Green. When Miranda July came to Melbourne in 2016, she did something that I have found difficult to forget. She told us that she was going to stage a conversation ...
By Jamie Tahana of RNZ Pacific Taiwan suffered two major diplomatic blows in the Pacific this week with both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati severing their ties in favour of China. In just four days, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies fell from 17 to 15, further isolating the island as Beijing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Farrell, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Griffith University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Where do phobias come from? – Olivia, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. Phobias are an intense fear ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rogers, Senior lecturer, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University The phrase “climate emergency” became part of the political lexicon this year. Governments at all levels made declarations of a climate emergency, as did various organisations such as the Australian ...
Following serious allegations emerging online, episode two of New Zealand Today has been removed from ThreeNow along with all relevant clips. Mediaworks have removed episode two of Guy Williams’ comedy series New Zealand Today from its streaming platform ThreeNow after being informed that there were serious allegations involving a person briefly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Luigi Spiller, Associate Professor (Urban Planning) – honorary , University of Melbourne Labor’s Rudd-era National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) has come under attack just when it might be needed. The Abbott government stopped funding new deals under the scheme in 2014, ...
It’s Spinoff Youth Voting Week, where old people aren’t allowed to vote*. To celebrate, Tamsyn Matchett has written on a civics education programme giving teenagers a first sweet taste of local democracy before they’re legally permitted to vote for real.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff ...
Carla van Zon, former artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival, issues a call for artists to make their voices heard in the battle against climate change.I am passionate about the arts and believe art can change lives, attitudes and even the world, individual by individual. I also believe that ...
Christchurch City Councillor Deon Swiggs has identified himself as the person at the centre of a complaint of inappropriate behaviour, but denies he has done anything wrong. ...
Reporters have been denied any access to the prime minister's meeting with US President Donald Trump tomorrow, but Jacinda Ardern says it wasn't her decision. ...
New Zealand businesses will benefit from tax breaks worth at least $80 million over five years, to encourage them to spend more on research and innovation. ...
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Foreign affairs and trade Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern to take climate change stage in ...
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Not to put a damper on things, but Australian food hasn’t always made us happy little Vegemites. One needn’t look further than the humble meat pie to see how our love/hate relationship with Aussie tucker ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...
Solomon Islands and Kiribati last week dramatically switched diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China, a shift with possibly wide-ranging implications writes Stephen Hoadley of the University of Auckland. ...
Jacinda Ardern has a busy agenda for her second trip to the annual leaders' week, not least a high-profile sit-down with US President Donald Trump. ...
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...
Until our mental health system gets its promised overhaul, we need to find cost-effective and creative ways for mental health professionals to increase their awareness across all areas of diversity. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Assessing the fallout – for better and for worse – of Spark’s dismal RWC debut.The worst fears of Spark came true over the weekend, as issues impacted its stream of the All Blacks’ pivotal matchup with South Africa, leading to it transferring the livestream to TVNZ’s Duke. The following day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison was frank, when quizzed at a news conference during his visit to Washington, on whether he would be seeking to travel to China in the next year. “Well, you have to be invited ...
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...
Open mike 17/12/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Local body voting papers went in the post on Friday, and should be arriving over the course of this week (mine arrived today). And if you care about climate change, I urge you to vote. While local government seems irrelevant and out of touch (like a whine of old white ...4 hours ago
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ... 8 hours ago
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...23 hours ago
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...1 day ago
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...2 days ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...3 days ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...3 days ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...3 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...4 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...4 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...5 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...5 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...5 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...5 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...5 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...1 week ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...1 week ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...1 week ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...1 week ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...2 weeks ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...2 weeks ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...2 weeks ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...2 weeks ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 2 weeks ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Free Speech or hate speech: Ahmadiyya Muslim community’s annual peace symposium generates stimulating debate ...27 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, University of Melbourne Australia’s water rats, or Rakali, are one of Australia’s beautiful but lesser-known native rodents. And these intelligent, semi-aquatic rats have revealed another talent: they ...59 mins ago
Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says the government has had "meaningful" discussions with Fletchers on how to resolve the situation at Ihumātao. ...2 hours ago
Joan Fleming on Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry, the humming, house-like opus by poet and champion of poets, Paula Green. When Miranda July came to Melbourne in 2016, she did something that I have found difficult to forget. She told us that she was going to stage a conversation ...2 hours ago
By Jamie Tahana of RNZ Pacific Taiwan suffered two major diplomatic blows in the Pacific this week with both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati severing their ties in favour of China. In just four days, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies fell from 17 to 15, further isolating the island as Beijing ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Farrell, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Griffith University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. Where do phobias come from? – Olivia, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. Phobias are an intense fear ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rogers, Senior lecturer, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University The phrase “climate emergency” became part of the political lexicon this year. Governments at all levels made declarations of a climate emergency, as did various organisations such as the Australian ...4 hours ago
Following serious allegations emerging online, episode two of New Zealand Today has been removed from ThreeNow along with all relevant clips. Mediaworks have removed episode two of Guy Williams’ comedy series New Zealand Today from its streaming platform ThreeNow after being informed that there were serious allegations involving a person briefly ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Luigi Spiller, Associate Professor (Urban Planning) – honorary , University of Melbourne Labor’s Rudd-era National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) has come under attack just when it might be needed. The Abbott government stopped funding new deals under the scheme in 2014, ...5 hours ago
It’s Spinoff Youth Voting Week, where old people aren’t allowed to vote*. To celebrate, Tamsyn Matchett has written on a civics education programme giving teenagers a first sweet taste of local democracy before they’re legally permitted to vote for real.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff ...5 hours ago
Carla van Zon, former artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival, issues a call for artists to make their voices heard in the battle against climate change.I am passionate about the arts and believe art can change lives, attitudes and even the world, individual by individual. I also believe that ...5 hours ago
An online data collection company says property owners should make onsite hazards publicly available, so outsiders are better protected. ...5 hours ago
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...7 hours ago
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...7 hours ago
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...7 hours ago
An essay and review by Russell Brown in response to a newly-published guide to the future: medical cannabis. ...9 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...12 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...13 hours ago
The Chinese NZ Herald is in the spotlight for its operational arrangements China, which experts say amount to CCP state control. ...14 hours ago
Luisa Avaiki may be ruing the missed opportunity, but her Warriors women still made history - twice - at Mt Smart Stadium. ...14 hours ago
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...14 hours ago
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...14 hours ago
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...1 day ago
Great, the west has started financial world war 3 with Russia. And this week Obama is going to sign into law the provision of lethal US military aid to Ukraine. Which is the US way of provoking Russia into sending armoured columns into Ukraine. Because just as the US would not allow nuclear missiles with a 10 minute flight time to Washington DC to be based in Cuba, Russia is certainly not going to allow similar in Ukraine.
And at the time when the Russkies had nuke missiles in Cuba, the Yanks had nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy pointed at Russia. Although the deal was mutual removal, when the Soviet leadership removed their missiles from Cuba, the US government (Kennedy) kept theirs in Turkey and Italy.
When you’re imperialist top-dog you make up the rules to suit yourself, as in the days when Britannia ruled the waves and waived the rules.
Phil
This is a good view of how both sides see each other:
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/viewing-russia-inside#axzz3M3XjUDKd
Not sure what conclusions I’d draw from it, apart from sanctions can destroy the russian economy but won’t necessarily effect any political change. The Russian economy is dire, I’ve seen people blabbing on about how insulated Russia will be bvecause of their foreign reserves – these have declined 20% in 2014, 10% in the last 3 weeks. Previous examples of currency collapse show you can burn through all those in a month if things get dire. The Ruble will trade at 200 within 3 months. Just rewind to 1998. Banks have stopped quoting on USDRUB – that is the start of the death spiral. While the fall in the ruble insulates somewhat against the fall in oil, every other import becomes unobtainable for the average Russian. The real problem in Russia is too much is being siphoned off by Putin and his cronies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ruble-implodes-is-it-1998-all-over-again-mD4759gESfG4QbugVxZAdQ.html
The only real pressure point on Putin is more likely to come from his oligarch mates:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000339649
I suspect that is the bet the Americans and Germans are making.
Putin is a declared billionaire and will have plenty of undeclared cash/gold and assets also stashed away in foreign Countries. Russia revolves on corrupt practices, it’s normal.
I have a Russian girlfriend that studied management here. Apart from being stunningly beautiful, smart & quick witted, she was from a wealthy family. I once questioned her about where the wealth came from and joked ” your old man isn’t involved with the Russian mafia is he.” she laughed and said “everyone is linked to the mafia and black market, how you think my parents come here to NZ once a year and me travel home or holiday in Europe every year, it’s part of our culture.” She invited me to go out for dinner with them next time they come over. Her mother was warm and bubbly, her father was reserved and serious and spent alot of time talking stern on his mobile phone. He was big and tall and had the straightest back I’ve ever seen. I asked her later after we dropped them at their motel, your dad looks like an army man, she laughed and replied ex army General who fought with honour in Afghanistan, he has lots of medals. She told me the ex army men just transferred the power they had to running businesses. Sounded more like racketeering to me.
Do you think that the current decaying American empire is a match for a Russia led by people like your g/f’s family.
You just have to look at Putin for your answer, he make the rest of the World leaders look like pussy cats. Coupled with the Russian’s close assoiation with China and I’d say no match whatsoever CV.
@ Skinny
It’s what you do when there is the opportunity. This country was stripped of great public entities which were bought relatively cheaply by fast guys, when Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble got the wind in their sails. Serious money was made when they either resold them at a profit or built other aspects into them.
As soon as neo lib came in NZ and some top private positions were created in the place of public, a new guy in Auckland was off overseas with his wife and I think they managed to find hotel rooms at $2,000 a night. It seemed like a triumphal blow out at the cost of the stupid what they seemed to view as the ordinary mass of yobboes in the street. Their mantra was, and is, government can’t do anything right. The greed-gatherers got drunk on power and opportunity here just as they have in Russia.
Yeah Fay & his side kick merchant banker partner duped the taxpayer. I remember Fay’s first lieutenant drunkenly boasting at my sisters wedding how well they had done out of asset stripping our railways. I physically had to restrain my brother (who was a loco driver & got sucked into taking transrail shares by smooth talking Preeble) from knocking him out. This clown turned up at the swanky reception with a young hussey in tow and his own bottles of Dom. His ex was there and he started making a right Charlie of himself harassing her. My other brother and myself done the honours grabbed champagne Charlie and through him in the pool to cool off, much to everyone’s laughter. He stormed off, jumped in his porsche, dropped a burnout down the road like a spoilt brat. Yes plenty of money grabbing happening in the 80’s.
Pah! Russian gold reserves have been climbing steeply all through 2012-2013-2014, including record purchases in the last couple of months. Whatever inaccurate and propagandised sources you are reading, you should get new ones.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-31/russian-banks-buy-1814-tons-gold-2013
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-19/gold-rises-after-unusual-russian-central-bank-gold-buying-announcement
Russian gold reserves might be increasing but not their total reserves.
I wouldn’t rely on ZeroHedge for great insight. “Tyler Durden” has been calling for a market correction in the S&P500 since about 1400, though he went remarkably quite around 1700. great gossip site but that’s what you’d expect from a convicted Bulgarian inside trader. His view on the world is always distinctly bearish – to paraphrase many others he has called about 35 of the last 2 market corrections. And he has a distinct political bias – which is fine, just correct for that.
Russia has been a buyer of gold, latest data I can see (31/10/14 via IMF) is that their total reserves are USD416.2 billion, of which gold holdings are 37.575 million oz. At $1193 per/oz that gold is worth about $44.8 billion, so a bit more than 10% of reserves. A ton of gold sounds impressive but is “only” worth around US$38.7 mm. So a purchase of 77 tons of gold is ~3 billion. Not too significant in the scale of Russia’s reserves or in the daily turnover of gold trading – London bullion exchange clears around $18 billion of physical gold a day, then add in futures trading.
Russia has around US$700 billion of foreign debt with 125 billion due in 2015 – that won’t roll over. Before the current turmoil the Russian govt was planning on spending 1.5 trillion rubles over the next 3 years, will be a lot more now.
Just wait and see how this current ruble devaluation pans out – right now Russia is experiencing full on capital flight – when the dust settles we’ll see what position a) their reserves are in, b) domestic inflation, c) growth. I’m picking all 3 will be disastrous. Plenty of smarter people than me are seeing a bleak outlook.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/15/russias-economy-is-doomed-its-that-simple/
this is out of date:
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDRUB:CUR
Currently trading at 70, been as high as 79.
Russia has all the energy in the world. It also has about 40% of the EU’s gas requirements.
It just needs to wait things out and continue to work with the rest of the BRICS.
Let’s see how things play out. My bet is Russia wins.
no your 40% number is incorrect. It’s 28% and the most dependent countries are the ex-soviet satellites.
http://www.vox.com/2014/7/25/5936521/why-europe-wont-punish-russia-in-one-map
I don’t think Russia will disappear, they’ve survived worse than this. The first link I put up today is a much more nuanced view of what might happen. But equally Russia won’t win either – fascist states never do, but they can lash out militarily.
Be careful who you are calling “fascist” – it is the declining US empire which is an amalgamation of corporate, financial, governmental and military power that lashes out internationally.
If you do a checklist of the classical signs of a fascist state, no major nation ticks as many as Putin’s Russia.
The US has got a long way to decline. Russian GDP is now about $950 billion.
Here’s how that compares to some other entities:
State of North Rhine Westphalia $800 billion
City of Los Angeles $630 billion
City of New York $1.1 billion
Chicago+ Boston + Philadelphia $1.02 trillion
States of Washington + Maryland + Indiana$ 1 trillion
State of Texas 1.4 trillion
To really put it in perspective, Russian nominal GDP is now about 6 times larger than NZ.
Go Putin!
@ Philip F
Britannia ruled the waves and waived the rules.
Very neat aphorism I think.
They already have the cash for this misadventure their CR. Or there reassurance fund.
A back door to funding and a new term we may hear more of – The European Initiative.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/12/11/16479/long-term-blank-check-war-spending?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email&goal=0_ffd1d0160d-40abf15259-100020097&mc_cid=40abf15259&mc_eid=c346e018f7
What the hell is CR adam? Is that the new white power way of addressing another human being?
😆
TA when you talk to CR you are allowed to use initials. But not HH as that may be construed as being flippant. You’ll catch on to the finer nuances in time.
Oh I’ve got those nuances well and truly sussed now. You have too by the looks. 😉
And not only flippant, but white supremacist too, don’t forget.
Stalker much
If you don’t want your double standards exposed you shouldn’t show them. 🙂
Stalker much
“..More Nails in the Drug War Coffin: Top Stories of 2014..
..There’s been so much going on with drug policy reform this year -’
– it wouldn’t all fit in a ‘Top 10″ list..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/drug-war-coffin-nails-top-stories-2014-0
(also of interest..is that ex-junkie russell brand has done a doco on drugs..
..that has been very well received..)
“..This might be the only time almost all of Twitter agree with Russell Brand..
..This week has seen a social media turn-around for the star –
– following the airing of BBC 3′s Russell Brand: End the Drugs War..”
(cont..)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/this-might-be-the-only-time-almost-all-of-twitter-agreed-with-russell-brand-9928057.html
‘cos unlike what some claim..my campaigning on this isn’t just because i want to smoke a joint..(i can do that already..eh..?..)
..it’s also because of my experience/history of having been addicted to heroin/cocaine/crack etc..
..that showed me that just about everything that is now done about ‘drugs’..is just so so wrong..on so so many levels..
..(and don’t get me started on that vile muck methadone..the ‘nazi-smack’..
..a textbook illustration/example of the maxim of the cure being worse than what it purports to heal..)
Interested and encouraging list that Phil.
Jebus, 105 opiate overdoses in the US per day…
Hard News top ten words of the year: “Dirty Politics” #1:
That article is a good round up of many of the recent issues on political social media.
Some Australian left-wing commentators on Sydney siege.
On the first day: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/on-the-sydney-siege/
On the day after: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/the-sydney-siege-the-day-after/
And something the mainstream news media, for some reason, choose not to cover much at all; US drone strikes and how they kill 28 people for every one target: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/us-drones-target-one-murder-twenty-eight/
Phil
Somebody should ask John Key’s view on his mates murdering 28 people for every 1 target …. drill down into it with Key ….
Which is more important? 28 people in Pakistan, or 2 people in Sydney?
Meanwhile, while the NZ pm is trying to spin the events as justification for enhanced surveillance, the Aus pm is noting the abject failure of their newly upgraded system.
Despite multiple charges against him, obvious signs of instability, and calls from within his own community for his investigation, and he himself virtually jumping up and down saying “Pick Me! I’m going to do something!” – though “known to them”, the deranged loner was “Not on the appropriate watchlists”.
“If I can be candid with you, that is the question that we were asking ourselves around the national security committee of the cabinet today,” Mr Abbott said.
“How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history, not be on the appropriate watch lists, and how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?”
NSW Premier Mike Baird echoed this: “We are all outraged that this guy was on the street … the community has every right to feel upset. I’m incredibly upset,” he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-martin-place-siege-gunman-was-known-to-asio-but-not-on-terror-watch-list-20141216-128hdj.html
@ vto..
..key has been quite open about how we help with the targeting of those drone attacks..
..those attacks in which 28 innocent men/women/children are slaughtered..
..for every ‘terrorist’ killed..
..his hands are drenched with/in the blood of these innocents..
..and as this is done by him in our name..
..so are ours..
..we..by siding with america..by actively helping in the execution of these killings..
..and by in general being such eager spear-carriers for america..
..we are also ‘the bad guys’..
I was wondering if someone has worked out an Israeli body count rate of exchange. Perhaps 1 Israeli = 20 Palestinians, 5 houses, 2 olive groves, 1 school, and 1 hospital.
It’s a tough world currency this balancing the political values for each side, though fairly stable in its extreme unfairness.
(we need some of this to happen here..)
“..Mom Calls C-SPAN To Scold Pundit Sons On Live TV..”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/16/mother-calls-cspan-to-yell-at-brothers-on-live-tv_n_6334652.html
A list and explanation of roles of those responsible for the US breaking their own constitution and using torture.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/12/12/15221/whos-responsible-cias-torture-policy?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email&goal=0_ffd1d0160d-40abf15259-100020097&mc_cid=40abf15259&mc_eid=c346e018f7
With more state house evictions coming soon – Let me keep reminding people – YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Neoliberalisms madness has infected the whole western world.
http://libcom.org/news/protest-staves-eviction-liverpool-family-16122014
I meant to put this up a few days ago – Asks some tough questions about health and our attitude towards that concept.
http://libcom.org/blog/healthcare-only-tiny-part-health-13122014
I know this is an old blog – but re-read this the other day – and found it very much on the money.
http://libcom.org/library/dear-jamie-oliver
Watched all your links Adam. Pretty depressing stuff. No wonder people don’t want to know and skirt around the difficult stuff.
I’ve been listening to Mr Ludbrook, president of the Northland Fed farmers saying that because the deaths on quad bikes died of crushing injuries and not of head injuries, that the wearing of helmets should be a personal issue. This in response to a Marlborough couple getting $20,000 fines each for repeated refusal to wear quad bike helmets, purchasable for about $120.
Surely the fact that people don’t die of head injuries is a tribute to the wearing of helmets? All those people who hit their heads on the ground, rocks, trees, posts etc have survived- great.
Or is he saying that there are lots of people not wearing helmets and having accidents but their heads don’t get involved fatally?
Or is he saying that the people who died of crushing injuries weren’t wearing helmets but got no head injury?
Or they were wearing helmets but got no fatal head injury – which is what I’d expect if they wore helmets?
It defies logic to argue that helmet wearing should be a personal issue because people who die on quad bikes die of crush injuries but didn’t get head injuries because they wore helmets.
In other words, can he argue logically that the absence of death by head injury had nothing to do with helmets?
I think the man is a libertarian fishing for arguments to not be forced to wear a helmet on a quad bike, especially when repeated refusals might cost the offender $20,000.
He’s been on National radio, but the interviewer did not challenge his logic nor did the other side get an airing as to 1) why people should wear helmets on quad bikes, 2) why they should be compelled and 3). why a fine of $20,000 should apply and be awarded.
Nor did the particular aspects of this case get discussed. In all fairness to the judge, the lawmakers, the enforcing agencies, the court system, farm employees, farming family members and the taxpayer, the issue should have been more widely discussed rather than only permit a muddled-thinking libertarian talk about being reasonable.
I didn’t hear the Ludbrook interview, just the news about the fines. I suspect their will be a RW backlash about the “unfairness” of the fines.
My thought at the time was the couple had been warned several times about not wearing their helmets on their quad bikes, so they had plenty of opportunity to prevent receiving the fines. Why didn’t they comply? Serious question.
The agriculture sector is up there for workplace injuries:
http://www.dol.govt.nz/whss/statistics.asp
and I seem to recall Helen Kelly from the CTU mentioning the highest rates for workplace death last year occurred in this sector, ahead of the forestry sector.
So why would you want to chance it by not wearing Personal Protective Equipment? What do you have to lose by simply just putting your PPE on in the workplace, the farm? Your stubborn pride?
My concern is not for those two fined but for workers and families in the industry.
I was a farm worker for three years, and safety was an issue. I can imagine the 18 year old farm worker told by his non helmet wearing boss, or the child told by their non-helmet wearing mother or father, to get on the quad bike and go do a job. No helmet provided, no helmet available, and no expectation that a prudent person should wear one.
The element of compulsion gives protection to the vulnerable. As it did with compulsory bike helmet use for our helmet wearing kids who longer got jeered at by the foolish but could quote the law and find safety with it.
“My concern is not for those two fined but for workers and families in the industry.”
Absolutely mac1. It’s those with the responsibility for others safety (eg, boss, parent as above) that need to lead by example. It’s their duty to promote a safety culture.
Too often in NZ, workplace H&S protocols are cynically referred to as tick box exercises. Too many times I’ve seen employers grudgingly and speedily go through an H&S procedure with a new employee without any thought for the reason or importance of it, and seem to miss the concept that they need to promote a safety culture not just for the sake of compliance but for safety itself.
Yes and with the regulator Work Safe being empowered the Bosses are all positioning the liability back on the workers, which is just typical.
Once a boss tells a worker to were a helmet then surely it is up to the worker to do it , bosses cannot monitor there workers at all times.
I think the fines are excessive a drink driver is far more dangerous and 3rd time offenders get $1000 fine
mac1
Talking about bike helmets, I was surprised at the fervent negative attitude of a man in a bike hiring business who says that his European customers won’t wear them. He talks about Netherlands where nobody wears helmets. They also have a very flat country and are more self centrolled and disciplined than we are in my opinion.
I have heard others putting down helmets. Why do they think we now have them?
Some men are just so narcissistic and self-centred that they have trouble obeying any rules and guidelines.
“.. Why do they think we now have them?..”
control-freak/nanny-state gone mad..
..that’s why we ‘have them’..
..and far be it from me to speak for all men..
..but i think as many women wd oppose cycle-helmets as do men..
..helmet-hair is gender-neutral..
No doubt the non helmet wearing promotors also expect the rest of us to pay their medical costs. Funny how individual choice is not equated with individual responsibility.
wear a helmet when you drive a car then – same argument exactly
sheesh
How is it the same argument ?
Surely a better but still not correct argument would be to wear a seat belt when you drive a car.
Do you recall the argument for forcing people on bikes to wear helmets? The number of head injuries in the average bike accident.
How many people who have a car crash on the open road come out without head injuries?
Same argument
Wear a helmet when you drive a car.
For that argument to have any weight you would have to provide stats and analysis on car accident head inuries that could be prevented by helmet wearing.
Hey I aint a professor having to prove some thesis.
Try anecdote as a first step. Average open road car crash – how many without head injuries? I would suggest very few. Certainly more head injuries than non-head injuries. Makes the argument for car helmets more compelling than the argument for cycle helmets, actual ..
“Try anecdote as a first step. Average open road car crash – how many without head injuries? I would suggest very few. Certainly more head injuries than non-head injuries. Makes the argument for car helmets more compelling than the argument for cycle helmets, actual..”
I think that prohibition laws are based on stats and risk vs benefit. So we don’t reduce the open road limit to 50km/hr because the lives lost at 100km are not worth the lots time if we all drove more slowly. In order to make that judgement for society as a whole, the numbers would have to be crunched.
Anecdata is fine in some situations, but in this case I really do think you’d have to compare head injuries preventable by helmets in cars and weight that up against other factors like moveability, head space, inconvenience etc.
If we really wanted to reduce head injuries in car accidents we would lower the speed limit and redesign roads and put check points outside every pub car park.
I think the only reason this hasn’t been attempted is the same sort of reason that alcohol is given a free run in our society – it would make too many people grumpy. Cyclists are a small group but car drivers are everyone.
I think the argument and the stats and facts would win but people don’t always like facts and stats, they prefer to stick head in sand, fingers in ears, and cry “nya nyah nyah – cant hear you…”
The reason cyclists were made to wear helmets is because it was an easy thing to do with great benefit.
Ditto seat belts. And prohibiting cell phone use in cars.
Wearing a helmet in a car is not straight forward for a whole bunch of reasons, so it’s not as simple as saying it would be unpopular.
Not if the helmets were light like cycle helmets or slim and close fitting, or even made of glass so that sight is not obstructed……
Seems to be fine for motor-racing drivers and they need far more of those convenience things like manouervering (can never spell that word) and wide vision and quick physical actions than those of us dawdling around in Honda citys and Hillman avengers..
Car Accident TBI
Bicycle Helmet Usage and Head Injury Prevention
Of course, the reason why we’re seeing airbags in cars is because people would refuse to wear helmets in them.
@ weka..
“..Wearing a helmet in a car is not straight forward for a whole bunch of reasons,..”
cd u give us a couple of those reasons..?
..’cos following yr logic around cycle-helmets..
..the case for car-driver helmets is compelling..
..(especially if you are going to be driving over 50 k per hr…
..now there’s a policy..!..target the speedsters..!..)
Thanks DtB. Always good to have the stats facts.
I look forward to seeing increasing numbers of people voluntarily wearing helmets when driving their cars……
http://www.pmlydon.com/2011/make-it-a-law-help-protect-us-from-ourselves/
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/channing-tatum-and-jonah-hill-drive-football-helmet-car-on-set-of-22-jump-street.jpg
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/usa/images-5/car-helmets.jpg
i think we should all have to wear big rubber/foam-rings..
..around our waists..
..all the time..
..then we wd be at no risk of bumping into each other..
..why should everyone else have to pay for those injuries..?
..when universal rubber/foam-rings wd take care of that..?
..and yes..!..rugby players/the all blacks..wd have to wear them too..!..
..do you know how much acc now pays out each yr on rugby-injuries..?
..whoar..!
..it makes bike-injuries look like chump-change…
..and yes..it will change the game..
..but you can’t be too careful now..can you..?
Save on birth control to re stopping people bumping into each other
yes..the benefits of the ring-solution are many and multi-faceted..
..and a natural form of contraception is definitely one of them..
..as only rubber/foam fanciers/fetishists will be turned on by the ring..
..it wd probably save acc money/make financial sense for acc to supply the compulsory-rings for free…
(and hey..!..if peter jackson is looking for a new ring-riff.?
..to make a new trilogy out of..
..and then a prequel-trilogy after that..?
..just saying..!..)
and of course..cyclists that fall off..will just bounce..
..and roll down the road..
and i am pretty sure that weka..representing the control-freak wing of the greens..
(‘you must wear a helmet..!..and no..!..you can’t smoke a joint..!..
..and don’t you even think of getting on a bicycle after smoking a joint..!’..
..i think the greens actually support breathyliser-locks on all bikes..
..’blow before you go..!’..)
..will be in wholehearted support of the idea of the ring…
(..probably wishes she thought of it..)
I have always said that cars and trucks should be made of soft bouncy rubber rather than bone-crunching flesh-tearing metal.
now yr talking..!
..those wellington buses cd definitely do with big rubber bump-guards..
..metal on flesh hurts so…
“I have always said that cars and trucks should be made of soft bouncy rubber rather than bone-crunching flesh-tearing metal.”
Could make pedestrians wear helmets when crossing roads…
…or we could design and built roads and paths that are fit for purpose and let people go about their business without being armour-plated.
Ahead of their time?
now yr talking..!
..those puffy-ones wd be perfect compulsory-suits for all cyclists..
..you can’t be too careful..!
I heard this song on the radio this morning. It is an evocative piece of atmospheric electronica music written for Eric Garner, the man who died at the hands of Police, earlier on in the year. You might recall they suspected he was selling tax free fags.
We Are Temporary explain:
“The five-minute 22-second piece includes some of Garner’s last words, as recorded on cellphone video, on July 17 to the NYPD, seconds before one of its officers put Garner in a chokehold and killed him. At the 2:25 mark, the bass and drums cut out as Garner can be heard telling the officers, “I’m minding my business; please, just leave me alone. I told you the last time, please just leave me alone.”
It’s not an easy listen, says Roberts, who’s 35 and lives in Bushwick. “It is a little manipulative. I’m aware of the fact that Garner’s life and the situation might be more complex than the video shows, but I think what I wanted to do is allow the music to create empathy for a person who was dying.
“For me, there’s something really desperate and childlike in ‘please,’ and I wanted that to come across.” ”
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2014/12/listen_to_i_cant_breathe_the_song_about_eric_garner.php
‘What can you say about a society whose food production must be hidden from public view? In which the factory farms and slaughterhouses supplying much of our diet must be guarded like arsenals to prevent us from seeing what happens there? We conspire in this concealment: we don’t want to know. We deceive ourselves so effectively that much of the time we barely notice that we are eating animals, even during once-rare feasts, such as Christmas, which are now scarcely distinguished from the rest of the year.’
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/16/perpetual-denial-food-meat-production-environmental-devastation
JIM MURPHY ELECTED SCOTTISH LABOUR LEADER.
Mr Murphy, addressing Labour party members at the Glasgow Emirates Arena, declared: “This is a fresh start for Scottish Labour. Scotland is changing and so too must Scottish Labour. I’m ambitious for our party because I’m ambitious for our country.”
“The majority are fulfilled, getting on, getting by, being successful. A minority are falling behind, denied opportunity, trapped, unable to escape the hardship of their upbringing.
“That inequality is wrong and it is my driving purpose, it is our driving purpose, it is the Scottish Labour Party’s driving purpose to end that type of inequality once and for all.”
Mr Murphy said the best way to tackle poverty was to boost the economy.
“The most effective anti poverty measure is a successful economy,” he said.
“It’s about backing businesses, it’s about creating jobs, because if redistribution is our aim, which it is, then we need more wealth not less. We want more entrepreneurs, not fewer. A growing middle class that more families are able to join.
“The debate about how we spend our wealth starts with how we earn it.”
Read more here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11291800/Jim-Murphy-announced-as-new-Scottish-Labour-Party-leader.html
He sounds just like FJK.
“It’s about backing businesses, it’s about creating jobs, because if redistribution is our aim, which it is, then we need more wealth not less.”
We just need to wait for that “more wealth” to be made before the redistribution starts. Somehow, I don’t think we should hold our breath.
What it means to piss off the western empire: financial, banking and capital attack
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-16/western-banks-cut-liquidity-russian-entities
What do you expect?
You come to me for a loan and I say what is your collateral?
You say “these Russian ruble denominated assets”
What would you do?
This is about assets; It’s a financial cold war between a dying empire and its pretenders. There’s nothing else to be said about it.
Not sure who you want me to have sympathy for here.
This US corporate action won’t kill them – it will drive their clients and their assets into the hands of China. That isn’t in US interests either state or corporate.
Tony Abbott, what a guy
http://thesauce.co/achievements-of-the-abbott-government/
it’s a blip-list..
..with an aussie accent…
(while looking for something else..i stumbled upon this..
..back in february i told labour what they had to do to avoid a caning from national/key..
..i guess they weren’t listening..
..and what i warned of..they didn’t heed..
..and what i said would happen if they didn’t..did..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/commentwhoar-ed-the-mire-labour-find-themselves-in-how-to-get-out-of-that-mire-and-how-to-avoid-an-election-campaign-caning-from-keynational/
An excellent write up. Just glanced at it then was hooked.
The New Yorker:
The Big Kill
New Zealand’s crusade to rid itself of mammals.
By Elizabeth Kolbert
…”Sirocco’s chaperone, a Department of Conservation ranger named Alisha Sherriff, had brought along a little metal container, which she passed among the visitors. Inside was half a cup’s worth of Sirocco’s shit.
“Have a good sniff,” she suggested.
“It’s earthy!” one woman exclaimed.
“I think it smells smoky, with notes of honey,” Sherriff said. When the container came to me, I couldn’t detect any honey, but the bouquet did strike me as earthy, with hints of newly mown hay. Sherriff had also brought along a ziplock bag with some of Sirocco’s feathers. These, too, had a strong, sweetish scent.
New Zealand birds tend to smell, which was not a problem when the islands’ top predators were avian, since birds hunt by sight. But, as mammals hunt with their noses, it’s become yet another liability…..”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/22/big-kill
Looked up Sirocco NZs spokesbird and after a few shots of a wise and questing kakapo who pops up but yek! The well known conservationist, laying down his life for the planet.
is it nick ‘the gurner’ smith..?
No that’s my point. It’s Key looking confidentially enthusiastic – Smith might have appeared further on but I cut the connection fast. Too much yek is toxic, I have to watch my health.
The authorities warn about legionella when handling compost etc, and a mask should be worn. As yet no health alerts have gone out about watching and listening to yek but I think they are overdue. However it should be added, that there is likely to be a window of contamination with yek as in ebola. Trouble is no-one is sure of how to know when the threshhold of infection is crossed.
since when was key yek…?
..and for why..?
..(what am i missing here..?..)
“..(what am i missing here..?..)”
Heaps, bro.
say ‘thank you!’..
..i gave it to u on a plate..
Nga mihi.
In a regularly article in the ‘Rural News’ titled agtwits called a “irreverant and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the rural world”
sbrowninggreen:Don’t you you just love MMP when a tree-hugging,organic-munching,treat Ebola-with-homeopathy nutjod like me gets into Parliament and is given the green party’s responsibility for ag#whythegreenssuck#iamaclown.
Damienoconnormp: So the self serving unionist beat the gaggling gay for the leadership of the party viola,I’m back on the back bench again.#evenwheniwnilose#whatdidisaywrong
@littleandrewlabour:I have little interest in farming,Little to offer agriculture and Little chance of changing labours anti-farming attitude. I guess I’m to little to late.#redflag#unionforever
Johnkeypm: I was going to text Andrew Little to congratulate him on winning the Labour leadership.However, I can’t because it would mean that I’m in proactive contact with a vile,poisonous, delusional loser.#delete message
#roflmao
I’ve copied as accurately as possible seems pretty nasty in spots for what’s meant to be light hearted
Wow!
Sounds as if the writer has played rugby a lot and gone straight back on the field after being slightly concussed too many times. It has cumulative effects I’ve heard. Add regular jars of ale and after a while of that, anything that differs slightly from the known and prescribed norm is strange and amusing.
It reeks of attack to me .further on in the same paper there’s this
“WANTED” A Political home for labour agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor. A solid, talented and knowledgeable performer, he has been hung out to dry by his own party which seems to have no interest in agriculture apart from imposing a cgt and cuddling with the Greens who essentially want a return to peasant farming.
This is evidence of the ignorance in the farming sector.
It is no wonder that for generations they have claimed they want to leave the land in a better state than when they got it, yet the evidence shows that they have done exactly the opposite.
Ignorance on a grand scale.
See claiming all farmers are bad just confirms some of what fukwits like who ever wrote that stuff i posted above say about the left, there are plenty of good farmers doing good stuff.
Of course there are, including a big chunk of mine …
It was a generalisation and I didn’t say all farmers are bad – I merely looked at the claims they have on average been making for the last couple of generations or so, and looked at the average evidence around those claims, and come up with an answer to their claim.
And if I might be so bold as to generalise even more – I see this all the time in our circles. That which you outlined in your original comment above is, imo, the average view of the average farmer (including the bad ones, and excluding the good ones). They are very pig-headed and stubborn. They spend so much time in their one world that they cannot fathom anything different ( or so says my opinion, after most of life in and out of such circles) – which is of course a very human trait and if I was now a farmer I would likely be doing the same ….
Prejudice and preconceived ideas confirmed then vto. Sigh
No you are wrong Jimmy.
Not pre-judged because as mentioned opinion is based on a lifetime of direct and indirect experience.
And not preconceived because as mentioned opinion is based on a lifetime of direct and indirect experience.
You should learn the meaning of words before using them. Sigh.
I understand the terminology no problem vto, just dont beleive you.
If you understand the terminologies than next step is to learn how to use them properly.
As for not believing my claim – non problema. It is my experience but you haven’t been by my side during that time so I can see how it can be difficult.
@ b waghorn
It just reeks of some of the empty minds we get here regularly. Bereft of any sense of how little they utilise their own intelligence they build themselves up by mocking those who do. Unwilling to test their own ideas and find them wanting, they hold onto untested myths which they accept as sureties, and then throw scorn on those who look outside the square for different possibilities.
Those people consider different ideas that when tested may prove unsuitable. Those who never dare to think out something individually, only to find it doesn’t work, or isn’t correct, remain safe, always protecting themselves from the scorn their type pours out on the thinkers and questers.
The reason I put these things here is to highlight what turns up in rural papers on occasion, in the hope that if any readers here that are linked to Labour and the Greens might come up with ways to counter it.
Agreed. I read those publications and notice what you point out too. It is common.
Sssorry if this has been posted before.
I was watching Newsroom, a US tv show which traverses many issues. On this episode one of the journalists is interviewing someone who has created an App enabling “citizen journalists” to post the whereabouts of celebrities on a map for the titilation of fellow citizens.
It turns out it was based on a real website called gawker stalker and a real interview. It made me think of the constant pandering to base human behaviour that is substituting journalism.
It reaaly is worth watching, especially for the website owners reactions.
Is this another example of dirty politics?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11364950
You havent actually read the book then?
“Is this another example of dirty politics?”
No.
From Mohammad Reza Alizadehfard: Syd Hostage: Who was Haron Monis?
1. He was born in Iran in a city called Borojerd.
2. His birth name is Mohammad Hassan Manteghi Borojerdi.
3. He was the director of a travel/tourism agency in Iran
4. He stole about $200,000 from his customers and escaped to Australia.
5. Iranin authorities through Interpol police asked Australian
government to hand him back to Iranian judiciary system. However,
Australia refuses to do so as He claimed he is a political refugee and
Iranian regime prosecuted him because of his liberal/democratic beliefs.
Australian government gave him political asylum in 1996.
6. In 2007
Sheikh Kamal Mosalmani, head of Australian Shia Council, wrote a letter
to ASIO warning them about his suspicious activities.
7. He presented himself as a Shia cleric with no confirmed official or formal education.
8. In 2014 Nov, he announced on his website renouncing Shia Islam and
paying allegiance to “the Caliphate of time Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi”, the
head of ISIL. Australian government was aware of his conversion and
support for ISIL in the last month.
(This the exact Arabic quote from his website:
أطيعوا الله و أطيعوا الرسول و أولي الأمر منكم
البيعة مع الله و رسوله و أمير المؤمنين – أبايع الله و رسوله و خليفة المسلمين
الحمد لله رب العالمين و الصلاة و السلام على نبينا محمد و على اله و
أصحابه أجمعين و التابعين منهم والسلام على أمير المؤمنين خليفة المسلمين
إمام عصرنا الحاضر و الحمد لله الذي جعل لنا خليفة في الأرض و إماما يدعونا
إلى الإسلام و الإعتصام بحبل الله سبحانه و تعالى. و الحمد لله الذي
شرّفني ببيعة إمام زماننا . إنّ الذين يبايعون خليفة المسلمين فإنما
يبايعون الله و رسوله يد الله فوق أيديهم . و قال رسول الله صلى عليه و سلم
من مات و لم يعرف إمام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية . والحمد لله الذي لم يجعلني
من الذين ماتوا و لم يعرفوا إمام زمانهم . و الحمد لله على نعمة الإيمان و
كفى بها نعمة و أفوض أمري إلى الله إنّ الله بصير بالعباد
والسلام على من اتبع الهدى
هارون – سيدني أستراليا
الإثنين 24 محرم 1436
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في الزمن السابق قد رفعت راية غير راية الإسلام فأستغفر الله و أتوب اليه و
أقسم بالله العظيم أن لا أرفع راية غير راية رسول الله صل الله عليه و سلم
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9. And as you all may know he has been charged for writing hate letters
to Australian soldiers ‘family, 40 sexual assaults and killing of his
wife. The last but not least he was known to have psychological issues.
So, If we want to play blame game who is the one to be blamed first and foremost?
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From me: While real political refugees get treated like shit, it looks like criminals who steal from people the government doesn’t like get the red carpet treatment. Compare this case with what happened to Ahmed Zaoui in Aotearoa.
Plenty of egg to go around the Australian security, surveillance and immigration services.
The answer must to reward such stellar performance by giving them more powers!
In the Alice books they have a tea party. I think they end up by picking on a dormouse which has been quietly sleeping and presents an easy target for malicious behaviour. When the tea party protagonists have used their cups and spoons, they move on to the next setting. But of course they eventually go round again to settings with old dirty utensils.
It seems that some people with excessive powers are incapable of cleaning up their act. They carry their dirty habits with them, and the downward slide in standards and ‘hygiene’ goes on. More powers just increases the slovenly moral behaviour.
An excellent thought experiment
Radio: “U.S. troops say they were locked in coffin-like boxes and endured countless near-drownings.”
A Republican-voting housewife comments: “The Taliban says it was legal, so that’s OK with me.”
https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/544822901640531968/photo/1
I see Phil Goof has apologised.
Little must be fuming having to put up with these fools, and he has every reason to be the angry man the right are trying to portray him as. Labour still need to sweep a lot more out the door before they will even be in the game next election, some of these old heads have to much baggage.
Experience is a good thing for Lawyers, Tradesmen, Accounts etc, but not necessarily in Hookers or Politicians because eventually the Baggage gets to heavy to carry and the makeup starts to run.
Who Created Cartoon Character “Man Haron Monis” Behind “Sydney Siege” Circus?
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/12/who-created-cartoon-character-man-haron.html
by Tony Cartalucci , Activist Post
Previously an outspoken critic of Iranian government, was interviewed by Australian media in 2001, loved Western society…
As predicted, the suspect amid the “Sydney Siege,” has long been on the radar of Australian law enforcement, as well as a frequent visitor to Australia’s court system.
Before that, however, he came to Australia as a political refugee, an opponent of what he called the “Iranian regime,” and was even interviewed by Australia’s ABC network in 2001 as part of an ongoing anti-Iranian propaganda campaign. ….
Read more….
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/12/who-created-cartoon-character-man-haron.html
Saddam Hussein was a poster boy for a while, then he lost favour, was hunted and captured and is now dead. So all malefactors can find a golden period of amnesty and tolerance insufficient to make them happy and give them a long life.
That Sydney guy was trouble with a capital T. But Oz politicians and spooks found him useful for their propaganda machine, and gave him a long rope, and the public have suffered from that. The deaths result from the hands of their Oz two-faced, machiavellian political masters who are subservient to an anti Middle East hegemony.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-speech-that-could-make-elizabeth-warren-president_b_6319142.html
I really, really, really hope Elizabeth Warren runs for US President in 2016. She’s the only one not afraid to attack the banks, and even Obama — her own party’s president. She may be one of the only ones left not bought and paid for by Wall St.
Don’t kid yourself. She’s as corrupt and as heartless as anyone in Congress….
At a town hall in August, she defended Israel’s shelling of targets in Gaza, saying that Israel had a right to defend itself against attacks from Hamas.
“America has a very special relationship with Israel,” she said, according to the Cape Cod Times. “Israel lives in a very dangerous part of the world, and a part of the world where there aren’t many liberal democracies and democracies that are controlled by the rule of law. And we very much need an ally in that part of the world.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/elizabeth-warren-israel-113141.html
that is the only chink in her armour i have seen..
..what about the rest of the warren-package..?
..and you wd prefer clinton..?
Who will be Discredited When Venezuela Doesn’t Default? Nobody.
https://zcomm.org/zblogs/who-will-be-discredited-when-venezuela-doesnt-default-nobody/
by JOE EMERSBERGER, 17 December 2014
In this article [1], Bloomberg (Ye Xie, Katia Porzecanski and Pietro D. Pitts) wonder who will seize Venezuelan assets if the government defaults.
A better question would be “How will Bloomberg’s reporting change when Venezuela doesn’t default?”
The global economic meltdown that took place a few years ago, and from which we are still recovering, answered for us. The reporting won’t change at all.
Being an elite investor, big credit rating agency or highly regarded economist means never having to say you’re sorry. It is quite a prestigious group that couldn’t see (or wouldn’t admit to seeing) gargantuan housing bubbles in the USA and elsewhere that led to worst global economic recession since WWII. The big credit rating agencies gave mortgage backed securities the highest possible ratings just before they blew up. The Federal Reserve of Boston put out a paper [2] exploring why the vast majority of the professional economists proved as useless as “the markets”.
We must add to the list of the “never-accountable-for-anything” corporate news agencies like Bloomberg who hype the “concerns” of all these people. The appalling track record is always a non-issue.
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-15/who-gets-citgo-s-assets-if-venezuela-defaults-.html
[2] http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/ppdp/2010/ppdp1005.pdf
This pic is the lesson that the RWNJs, neoliberals and other Randian types have forgotten.
And you think the NZ media sucks up to the government……
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/16/7402469/putin-russia-ads
They’re not that much different from what we get on Channel 9 in Brisbane. And yes, the Kiwi media does suck up to Key.
The fact that our media are not reporting the reasons and geopolitics behind the collapse in oil prices shows that our media is not telling us what’s really going going on.
Our media, not Russia’s, is the one we concern ourselves about, as it impacts on our own perception of reality more.