What's stopping them find common ground? Corbyn "said his party had negotiated "in good faith and very seriously, and put forward a lot of very detailed arguments", which he thought was "the responsible thing to do". He added: "The issue [is] that the government has not fundamentally shifted its view and the divisions in the Conservative Party mean the government is negotiating with no authority and no ability that I can see to actually deliver anything.""
"Speaking after meeting Tory activists in Bristol, Mrs May said: "There have been areas where we have been able to find common ground, but other issues have proved to be more difficult. In particular, we haven't been able to overcome the fact that there isn't a common position in Labour about whether they want to deliver Brexit or hold a second referendum to reverse it."
In other words, there's obvious common ground: equivocation & disunity in both wings of the establishment. A common quicksand – no basis upon which to proceed.
Or to return to a frequent theme, this is a direct consequence of globalisation lacking common principles and democratic accountability.
Our physical reality is a world with 7 billion people that is one species rapidly converging as a single geo-social polity. Trade, travel, communication and a myriad of legal, commercial and technical mechanisms compel us into connection, yet the nation states have been unable to deliver an effective political mechanism to match.
We've lived in an era in which there have been more and more powerful multilateral organizations and binding agreements across the known world than since the Christian church. Most of them formed in the last 70 years.
May and Corbyn simply don't believe in the best and most complex of these: the E.U.
Good point. You are quite correct, I carelessly glossed over that.
May and Corbyn simply don't believe in the best and most complex of these: the E.U.
Yet neither of these people are fools, nor all the aprox 50% of Britons who voted for Brexit. The question has to be why do they not believe in it? My answer is that we have yet to fully embrace the idea of globalisation as an moral idea. We believe in our families, our communities (whatever form they may take) and the nations we're citizens of yet somehow the next logical step, a belief in the organic unity of the human race, eludes us.
Stiglitz' 'Globalisation And Its Discontents' covers most of this ground.
I think we're about as unified as a human race as we are going to get, and we've done pretty well at it. Importantly we prefer the nation-state a the most powerful and enduring of the collective.
And honestly we expect too much from any one cross-national agreement, the CPTPP being a fairly strong recent one with buckets of extra moral suasion thrown in at the end to keep us happy.
I certainly expect the nation state to endure. Human history can be roughly modeled as successive extensions of our ability to unite. We started with modest family clan and tribal units, then built layers onto them, the village, the city state and currently the nation. It's crucial to recognise that each new layer incorporated and enhanced the ones that came before.
For instance, when the family/tribal unit is the largest political unit you have to work with, everything must be solved at that level. The appearance of the nation state far from being a constraint, liberated the family unit.
At this moment in history all the big problems we face are global in nature. Only when we have the political mechanisms at that scale to address them, will the nation states be liberated to reach their full and unsuspected potential.
And thanks for the Stiglitz link. Yes worth a read by the looks.
“The main message of Globalization and its Discontents was that the problem was not globalization, but how the process was being managed. Unfortunately, the management didn’t change. Fifteen years later, the new discontents have brought that message home to the advanced economies.”
The global agreements that will bind nations to reverse the great global problems won't exist. We've pushed human cooperation as far as it's going to get. There's plenty of juice left in the existing organizations if they were supported. You can probably name good examples.
But there are plenty of other mechanisms that are more powerful than national and multinational agreements. The most powerful of them are markets, and many of those are already regulated in the broader interest very well.
Other mechanisms exists in only two of the most powerful countries we have: China and the United States. China's Belt and Road initiative for example. Plenty of faults, but no lack of international ambition or will.
Further mechanisms for global consensus exist in social media. Trump has led the way on how strong this mechanism is.
Even Ardern+Macron's Christchurch Call shows that agreement can simply start from fresh events. It's not a breakthrough, but it's a dent.
I don't think there's any need to wait until a global government arrives.
Britain went through much the same turbulent era, such as the War of the Roses, as it transitioned from city state level of social unity to the nation state. Achieving a broader level of social cohesion never an easy process, and encounters much resistance. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; not all new forms are necessarily a good thing. It's wise that we should test the new before we commit irreversibly.
Yet there is a deep paradox in human social organisation. We value our freedom and independence, yet in isolation we perish. It's a terrible contradiction, but in order to gain true liberty we must first surrender part of our freedom. For example, in order to make the best use of a road we must collectively abide by the constraints of a road code. If we each retained the right to randomly choose whichever side of the road to drive on each morning, collectively the result would render them catastrophically useless.
Collectively we all share a planet and the nation states have reached the point where each must surrender a part of their sovereignty in order to evolve to their next step. Until then we're stuck in escalating cycles of mismanaged globalisation, confrontation and conflict.
I do agree with your last sentiment; waiting for a fully functioning federated global government is not necessary; there are many incremental steps along the way that can be achieved. The EU was as you say one of the better attempts.
It is Germany's sense of postwar cross-national amity that sought a structure of cooperation that would stop all future wars, and that evolved from the EC to the EU we have today.
The E.U. is still expanding, so that impulse is still alive. But barely.
So the historical circumstance is pretty different to what you point to.
I'm still waiting for the Pacific Islands to figure that their tiny non-sustaining little fiefdoms are better amalgamated into a pan-national confederation. They've got plenty to fight for after all.
In the meantime New Zealand needs to keep dear, dear hold of that special relationship with Australia. That's as close as we're going to get to Federation with something of any heft.
So the historical circumstance is pretty different to what you point to.
In the normal course of events you are right, the impulse toward higher levels of cooperation is fitful and unsatisfying.
But every now and then, such as in the aftermath of WW1 and WW2, we have a moment of clarity, when in horror and shame at what we have done, we take a decisive step.
We have a choice, doing this the hard way, or the very horrifyingly traumatic way. But it will happen, because the alternatives to my mind are not acceptable.
Seems to me it's the difference between ideal & reality. United Europe is an excellent idea. The consequent eurocracy has alienated too many people. Just as the United Nations was an excellent idea, discredited by dysfunction.
What's necessary in high-level political organisations is appropriate design, followed by smooth operation. Design flaws and malfunctions must be eliminated as they appear. Instead, the human tendency to instutionalise such problems kicks in. The tacit assumption `fixing it is too hard' prevails. We need to empower fixers. Democracy selects non-fixers.
We've lived in an era in which there have been more and more powerful multilateral organizations and binding agreements across the known world than since the Christian church. Most of them formed in the last 70 years.
Very powerful and ubiquitous these new religions eg Harari (sapiens)
“The capitalist and consumerist ethics are two sides of the same coin, a merger of two commandments. The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’ The capitalist–consumerist ethic is revolutionary in another respect. Most previous ethical systems presented people with a pretty tough deal. They were promised paradise, but only if they cultivated compassion and tolerance, overcame craving and anger, and restrained their selfish interests. This was too tough for most. The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to. Most Christians did not imitate Christ, most Buddhists failed to follow Buddha, and most Confucians would have caused Confucius a temper tantrum. In contrast, most people today successfully live up to the capitalist–consumerist ideal. The new ethic promises paradise on condition that the rich remain greedy and spend their time making more money and that the masses give free reign to their cravings and passions and buy more and more. This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do. How though do we know that we'll really get paradise in return? We've seen it on television.”
I've been waiting to see how long it would take for kiwi entrepeneurs to rise to the challenge of waste recycling since the early eighties. It's finally happened!
"When China stopped taking plastic in 2018, it had a knock-on effect. Our soft plastics had been going to Australia but with a global market flooded with plastic, we can no longer rely on overseas processors and are forced to manage our own waste. Soft plastic has no commercial value and is difficult to repurpose."
"That's where Jerome Wenzlick steps in. He's a farmer and fencer who came up with an idea while putting up fencing at a rubbish dump. "We were putting wooden posts into the ground and the posts were snapping and we thought why don't we make some posts out of the plastic that's in the ground," he told Newshub. He's set up a company called Future Post and since the start of the year, he's recycled 300 tonnes – that's 75 truck loads."
"The soft plastic is sorted and granulated, then mixed with milk bottles, before going through a New Zealand-designed and built extruder to melt and reform it into fence posts. The equivalent of 550 plastic bags goes into making each post."
Fancy a district council being that enterprising! "It's up to the Manawatū District Council to persuade the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment after the provincial development unit handed it $81,000 to put together a business plan."
I hope the economics is viable. Fits in with regional development too eh? Not many jobs but they all help. I wouldn't trust the MBIE to necessarily get it right though.
If they fail to approve it, the MDC ought to pay a leading economic consultancy to appraise the plan too, to identify whatever the design flaw is, or it exists merely in the minds of bureaucrats, formulate a contrary analysis in support of it which the MDC could then submit directly to the minister for regional development – or the minister for the environment, perhaps. Because a viable scheme could be copied in other regions…
Yes, that's a realistic view of local body politics. And why the MDC initiative is so unusual. To be optimistic, one could also anticipate a copycat effect, which is likely if the scheme works. That would provide a progressive trend.
While agreeing that the way Tame Iti was treated was appaĺling and most certainly had a racist element to it, the major flaw in your argument is that he couldn't be charged with murder, having not killed anyone! Besides, the murder charge for the Chch perpetrator is, as I understand it, only an initial charge and there is more to come. I think you are comparing apples with oranges
…the major flaw in your argument is that he [Tama Iti] couldn't be charged with murder, having not killed anyone! JanM
Hi Jan,
I didn't argue, that Tama Iti should have been charged with murder. That would have obviously been completely ridiculous, (almost as completely ridiculous as charging him with terrorism).
I contended that if Tama Iti could be charged with terrorism, (despite not terrorising anyone), then the Christchurch white supremacist must be charged with terrorism, after oganising and planning an attack that killed 51 innocent New Zealand men women and children.
I further contend; that to not to charge this white supremacist with committing a terrorist act would represent a racist double standard.
….the murder charge for the Chch perpetrator is, as I understand it, only an initial charge and there is more to come. JanM
Jan you are absolutely right, the police can bring extra charges under the Suppression Of Terrorism. But will they?
Can a white person be a terrorist in New Zealand, or not?
The whole world is watching.
I am hopeful that this white supremacist mass murderer, will face extra charges laid under the Suppression Of Terrorism Act.
I suspect (though don't know) that if hes charged with murder its probably because charging him with terrorism might be problematic in getting the conviction whereas 51 counts of murder will certainly be easier to prove
to be honest you need to take that up with the current government not me.
to me he is a white supremacist and a terrorist and a mass murderer and an all around shitheel.
Any other question you may have you need to address with those that make the rules and that ain't me.
As for the privilege that white people have i have on more then on occasion addressed the fact that us white people have it, want it and are currently crying big tears about the fact that we are loosing it. And again, my position is that white people should never have had that privilege in the first place and in the case of many countries only got to be the top dog by systematically killing and eradicating the first nations by point of gun, with the help of chicken pox invested blankets, starvation, stolen generations and so forth.
As for those that cry over lost 'equality' in this country of any other 'white' country, i would like to point out that people of color, and women/children of all colors never were considered 'equal', never had 'equal rights' and certainly did not have the 'equal protection' accorded to white men in the courts of law and public opinion.
You haz questions. The esteemed and learned Professor Geddis haz answers.
Go to https://www.pundit.co.nz/ and scroll down to March 16, 2019. (the URL for the article contains the fuckwit's name so it gets caught in the moderation trap here)
tl;dr Charging the fuckwit with terrorism involves trying to prove stuff like state of mind that's much more difficult to prove than the bare facts of his murderous actions. In any case, getting a conviction for terrorism on top of the murders won't have any material effect on what his sentence is likely to be. So yes, that shows the terrorism law is not fit for purpose and needs to be changed.
it wont have any material effect on sentencing but it will set precedent (and unfortunately provide platform) ….if this isnt a terrorist act then what is?…is that a question worth asking including removal of some future defendant using a lack of charge in this instance as a potential defence?
"During Mike Pence’s first year as governor of Indiana, his state put a young woman in prison for having a miscarriage, alleging that she’d taken an abortion-causing drug. Purvi Patel didn’t have a trace of such a drug in her system, but Pence’s state sentenced her to 20 years in prison anyway. Just a few years earlier, Indiana had also held Bei Bei Shuai for 435 days in the brutal maximum security Marion County prison, facing 45 years to life for trying to kill herself and, in the process, causing the death of her 33-week fetus.
Utah charged 28-year-old Melissa Ann Rowland with murder because she refused a C-section, preferring vaginal birth for her twins, and one of them died. Sixteen-year-old Rennie Gibbs was charged by the state of Mississippi with “depraved heart murder” when her baby was born dead because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck: her crime was that she had cocaine in her bloodstream, according to prosecutors. Angela Carder was ordered to have a C-section to deliver her baby before she died of cancer; both she and the baby died from the procedure."
yeah, lets all just mock the idea of some religious zealots having a party in NZ and getting a say in Parliament because the Party of No mates is run by wet toast covered in margarine.
Cause we absolutely should not look to what happens in other countries and wonder if we want the same shit happening here.
Sabine (5) this is shocking! Yet they are out there, those "Christian" zealot conservative white males, wanting complete control over vulnerable women and girls. Demonstrating total ignorance of the highest order!
I'd be interested to know if the same cruel rules and actions would apply to the wives, daughters and granddaughters of the sadistic, vile Mike Pences of the world, whose rabid and dangerous mindsets belong back in the dark ages and before that even.
NZers have to be very alert as to who/what creeps into our political system, particularly when it comes to electing representatives.
the whole point is not to give married women grief (at least for now), but to harrass unmarried women who may only have sex for fun or so and force them back under the tutelage of Daddy until given over to Hubby at the church. Ownership over women and children is the whole point. The fetus is just the tool to achieve that.
in saying that, if you look at south america you will see that many women already are in prison for having miscarriages/or self induced abortions as the doctors don't want to incriminate themselves or simply report them to police and ……..locking up some poor women is just easier then proving solutions that would allow women access to science based healthcare, prenatal care, and / or simply the right to live a live save of sexual predators.
Modern, innovative learning environment in re-born Christchurch.
Police have been called in after a pig in the school's petting zoo had a stick stuck up its bum.
At the very least the children should have been taught how to slaughter and prepare the pig before putting it on the spit.
Seriously, is this school an anomaly, or is this the reality for education today?
An in depth article which gathers opinions from both sides.
Many staff who had their own children enrolled had since removed them, they said.
"I know those leaders were really intent on believing in the school philosophy but at the end of the day, after under two years, they just couldn't sacrifice their beloved kids.
"They [Haeata management] developed a philosophy without knowing the kids. They left out the most important thing."
Kai Fong said that every staff member had the opportunity to give feedback and meet face to face with the board if they chose.
Relief teacher Nadine Garrett liked Haeata's environment but said it wasn't right for everyone.
"I felt really sorry for the traditional teachers, they felt like they were just floating."
Personally, I'd find the noise in a classroom of 300 self -directed learners unbearable and while its laudable for the school to use incidences of bullying as a learning opportunity it appears it is not doing much to reduce the level of violence.
It's going to take a while and a lot of training to bring mainstream teachers to a point where they can operate successfully in an environment like this. Its basic kaupapa would appear to be similar to the ec Te Whariki curriculum and is common sense to us (I am ece trained ) but very scary, I would think, to a lot of the 'chalk and talk' brigade. By the way, I would never leave animals unprotected in any environment around children, no matter what their backgrounds. The inability to show kindness and compassion is most emphaticaĺly not confined to any one class or ethnicity.
Kai Fong said there was no evidence to suggest the rate of violence was higher at Haeata than other schools and he believed there was an "inherent bias" against the east side of Christchurch. "I think the preconception of more violence here is unjustified."
However, he said a proportion of Haeata's pupils struggled to "engage consistently in learning" and some "do not have the requisite social and emotional skills to be fully functional in learning".
A former teacher recalled incidents in 2017 when a glass object was thrown near an itinerant teacher and smashed. She was also told to "f… off, you b….," while being swung at with a traffic patrol pole by a 5-year-old. Children threw scooters, rode bikes inside, and there was constant swearing and verbal abuse.
As a result, the teacher took two terms off with post-traumatic stress, and had private counselling for 12 weeks.
The following year, the school sought police help to change the culture. The "highly successful initiative" focused on "pro-social behaviours" with girls at Haeata.
It seems counterintuitive to have a bunch of kids with known behavioural and learning difficulties in such an open plan environment. Too much noise and distraction and it would be damn near impossible to concentrate. I wonder if (in these days of mainstreaming kids with learning/behavioural issues) they have a squadron of teacher aides,or if they have 'special' rooms where those kids that are struggling can go for quiet time.
It would be interesting to know the make up of the kids being pulled from Haeata.
Experience in how politicians and government interact with the rich, relative to how they interact with the poor, points directly to such a school never being allowed to be experimented in Remuera or Fendalton.
Wake up.
No apology, but yes plenty of bitterness. All very real. Is why society is cleaving down the middle. Fuck the rich and their politicians.
This quote confirms a comment I made the other day about the difficulties that teachers have these days.
But a former teacher said teaching was impossible because they would spend their time wrangling naughty students. "I can't believe what a bad teacher I became," they said.
If this is an experimental school it has too big a roll. Nearly a thousand children can't be thrown together with the emphasis on them finding their own preferences.
I was waiting in the library at school while one of my children was in a class decades ago and the kids were supposed to be using the library facilities and looking at the range of books. One boy got out a motor magazine and turned the pages making vroom,vroom noises. I was helping another who couldn't concentrate his mind because he wanted to watch his friend. Encouraging him to work out a plan for a short piece on what he remembered from a trip to California was very difficult. Distraction is no good for the 10 second attention span generation.
Is the National Party tearing itself apart? Here's a letter posted on kiwiblog today.
Chuck Bird
It will be interesting to see which National MPs respond.
To all National MP’s
As a National supporter for the past 47 years, I wish to voice my disgust at your actions in supporting the Government in the passing of the recent bill to make criminals of law abiding gun owners. I attended a recent meeting in Te Awamutu where MP’s Bishop and Kuriger were speaking about this very topic. I have never been in a group of people so hostile to anybody, let alone MPs. I would venture to say that about 300-350 people were there. Most would have been National party supporters. For how long, I can only guess. If they are like me, not for much longer, unless you change the way you are heading.
Your actions were despicable in casting aside the rights of law abiding citizens. All in the name of socialist ideology. I thought that was the purvue of the left. How wrong I am.
This will be posted on my blog site http://www.ysb.co.nz . It is a blog dedicated to upholding free speech and WAS a National Party support blog. Your actions mentioned above have seriously bought this support into question.
well that is a bit of a stretch would you not think?
Consider that the only one type of weapon was outlawed and a few tools around ( i am not a gun enthusiast so am not too versed in that lingo) and that he still can own chickenshit loads of other weapons for his hunting and collecting needs.
So no, legal gun owner have not been criminalised, but a legal gun owner has mowed down 50 people and maybe he should think about that too.
But he is lucky, soon he can vote for a bunch of "Not National – but almost" Parties and all is good again.
Earlier today, I read the then 25 comments and they were so stereotypical of RWNJs that I thought that blog was an extremely well done parody of KB. Fact is stranger than fiction and reality is scarier than nightmares.
The means of exchange need to be regulated as otherwise when it becomes an end to itself, value systems and directions are lead by donkeys towards cliffs.
It would seem likely that the majority of collusion that takes place with the use of financial bubbles in unproductive predatory capitalism would involve relatively concentrated/substantial actors rather than such endeavours being the co-operation of multitudes, so a small financial transaction tax system could be a good way to provide tag and trace info to that, which can then be graduated up down the chain when critical thresholds start to be traced before such acts are able to be followed through to completion.
Rose delivers his mostly banal ruminations in a croaky basso profundo, his words larded with an extraordinarily high "um" and "y' know" count. Donovan's role is to meekly underscore Rose's philosophical gems occasionally with a supportive "Mmmm, mmmm."
EMIL DONOVAN: It's time for Midweek Media Watch, our weekly catch-up with the Mediawatch teeeeam, one of the Mediawatch team, to talk about all things media. Today it's Jeremy Rose's turn in the chair. Hullo, Jeremy.
JEREMY ROSE: Gid-daaaaay Emil, how ARE ya?
EMIL DONOVAN: Very well thank you. Ahhhh, what've you got for us this week?
JEREMY ROSE: Well I THOUGHT I'd start with the "power of the signature" you were just talking, y'know, about….
Rose spends an inordinate time talking about a woman's Facebook petition to change the Milo recipe. Donovan thinks this is a very serious topic: "It taps into the cultural zeitgeist, doesn't it," he observes.
Next topic: a Russian blogger called "Stalin Gulag" who operates on a site called Telegram. "It shows the importance of social media for holding the powerful to account," says Rose.
Rose says something about the need to break up Facebook, and then moves on to the distasteful topic of white supremacist sites like 8chan. He praises recent work on this by Max Towle and Patrick Gower. Rose plays a clip of Gower in fighting mood: "I'm ready for ANOTHER go with Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern." That cuts no ice with Jeremy Rose, however. He reckons that interviewing people like Molyneux and Southern is unwise—"these people are nonentities"—and akin to a prizefight.
So far, so humdrum. Then the interview with Jeremy Rose, who's billed as a media "expert", becomes foolish, bizarre, almost inexplicable. It turns out that Rose, who just a couple of minutes earlier talked grandly about "the importance of social media for holding the powerful to account", does not think that the mainstream media, i.e. the BBC, should hold the powerful or the influential to account at all. In fact, he says, there's no "point" in holding the words of a brutal racist against him in an interview. "I just don't think it HELPS", he croaks to an obviously unconvinced Donovan. Here, for those who can stomach pretentiousness and bewilderment dressed up as media commentary, is four minutes of Jeremy Rose's dire and dismal vaporing….
(For those listening on the audio link, the horror starts at the 19:33 mark)
JEREMY ROSE: …..so I really wanna know WHY you'd bother getting them on. And that kinda brings us to ANOTHER one that's had a bit of a sporting overtone. I think you were quite keen to talk about, which is the Ben Shapiro—
EMIL DONOVAN: Yes.
JEREMY ROSE: —interview. A well known, American, ultra-conservative, right wing commentator with a LOT of Twitter followers, I think, y'know, well over a million—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: And he was interviewed on the BBC byyyyy, um—-
EMIL DONOVAN: Andrew Neil, the notorious hard-nosed interviewer Andrew Neil. Yeah this was a FASCINATING interview, wasn't it.
JEREMY ROSE: It, it really was. Shall we—let's, let's have a listen to a BIT of it.
ANDREW NEIL: Some of the ideas that are popular in YOUR side of politics, ahh, would seem to take us back to the DARK AGES. These GEORGIA new ABORTION laws, ahhh, which YOU are much in FAVOUR of, ahhhh, that a woman who MISCARRIES could get THIRTY YEARS, A Georgian woman who travels to another STATE for an abortion procedure could get TEN years! These are EXTREME hard policies.
BEN SHAPIRO: Well, okay, a couple of things. One, I'm not sure, I mean frankly I don't know whether you're a s— , ARE you an objective journalist or are you an opinion journalist?
ANDREW NEIL: I'm a journalist that asks QUESTIONS.
JEREMY ROSE: Y-y-yeah, ha, so y' know, uh, it's gone VIRAL on the internet. Everyone, including ahhhh, Shapiro, say that it, that it was a DISASTROUS performance by him. He's tweeted, though, "Neil one, Shapiro zero." Again, that sporting kind of metaphor.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: Wanting a rematch. I don't think there was much in it, I don't think you LEARNT much, and I ACTUALLY think he had a KIND of point, whe-e-e-ere, that there was, y'know, when he was accused of being from the Dark Ages—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: —which is obviously a metaphor. But it wasn't actually that HELPFUL, and it ended UP just being …. [long caesura]…. for want of a better word, a shit fight.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: A-and I'm NOT sure that that REALLY serves ANYBODY.
EMIL DONOVAN: Yeah, I know it was fascinating stuff wasn't it. It's um, yeeeahh, the idea that—I mean, it's a TEMPTING metaphor. Sporting metaphors ARE tempting when it comes to, to interviews like tha-a-a-at, because the, a confrontational interview can sometimes be NECESSARY, right? Y' know? And, and sometimes there IS a winner and a loser out of an interview. And sometimes people are satisfied by seeing that. But it's not necessarily a HELPFUL metaphor.
JEREMY ROSE: No-o-o-o. And I, and I, and that whole idea of kinda punching OUT and a winner. And that was how it was portrayed, because he kept THROWING these ABSOLUTELY obnoxious quotes which he had ma-a-a-ade—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: —in the past at him, and asking him to DEFEND them. ….[long caesura]…. I don't know what the POINT is. If I hadn't seen the interview, I wouldn't know that this guy had made these racist, revolting comments about Arabs, about—- And I don't think that it HELPS, knowing that.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: Ahhhm, and he did have a BOOK out, I've got NO idea what he says in the book. There was nothing in it in the interview.
EMIL DONOVAN: Well I think this was the thing about it, that the book was about the rise of, um, extremist discourse, and, and, and ANGER within sort of SOCIETY and I think that Andrew Neil was pointing out the hypocrisy of the idea that Ben Shapiro would write a book about anger and society when he had contributed to it himself through his previous kinds of statements. But it's a very interesting kind of issue, isn't it—
JEREMY ROSE: Yeah.
EMIL DONOVAN: —and one that I imagine we won't see go away, because they always seem to be held up as SPECTACLES, these interviews, y'know….
JEREMY ROSE: I think that's exactly right. It, it, it's interviewers' performance. I think when we're dealing with things that matter as much as white supremacy, THAT's not the time to do that. To me-e-e-e-e, THAT's actually exactly what white supremacist type people would ENJOY.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm. It's sort of, yeah, the fuzzy line where information blurs into entertainment. Yeahhhh. Well, uh, Jeremy, thanks so much for that. Really appreciate it.
1. Andrew Neil is an excellent interviewer. He has variously made mincemeat of Jeremy Corbyn, Diana Abbot, Natalie Bennett and many others. Andrew has no problem tackling those on the right of politics, it is just that generally the left provide easier targets.
2. Andrew underestimated Ben Shapiro's intellect, and his attack dog line about Georgia's abortion law was ill-informed and justified Ben's response. At the same time, Ben was clearly ill-informed about Andrew's interview style, and came across as petulant. That's a shame, because Ben is intellectually the superior of virtually anyone Andrew will have interviewed, and the exchange could have been far more productive if both men had been better prepared.
3. For anyone to suggest Ben Shapiro was treated 'unfairly' by Andrew Neil is nonsense. Ben has been interviewed countless times, he has spoken to openly hostile audiences and has faced de-platforming by the lefty snowflakes on US campus's. In short, he is tougher than the person you quote gives him credit for.
4. Take time to listen to what Ben Shapiro says. You might not agree with him, but unlike some of the crazies on both the left and right of politics, Ben is a sound thinker, who speaks a rational, conservative voice into the issues of the day.
Watch the disastrous (for Shapiro) interview with Andrew Neil again. Neil reels off example after example of Nazi-quality filth, all of them direct quotes from Shapiro.
You are excoriating Morrissey of all in broadcasting and media generally.
Your statement is demonstrably incorrect. A quick review of my oeuvre shows I am more than happy to praise ethical, talented and conscientious journalists—both locally and internationally. On this forum and on many others I have praised: Julian Assange, Max Blumenthal, Mihi Forbes, Juan González,Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, Nicky Hager, Amira Hass, Paul Jay, Caitlin Johnstone, Gideon Levy, Selwyn Manning, Abby Martin, Aaron Maté, Matt Nippert, Paula Penfold, John Pilger, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill, Jon Stephenson….
That's just a few off the top of my head, in alphabetical order. I've praised every one of them at least once, some of them many times.
I hope someone pays you for all that. I don't think TS does, so whom?
What difference does it make? Mike Hosking gets paid to produce his rubbish; all the easy money in the world doesn't give him an ounce of credibility.
Temperatures Soar as Nearly All Old Arctic Sea Ice Has Vanished HEADLINEMAY 16, 2019
In climate news, temperatures near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia reached a record-shattering 84 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend, in an area where high temperatures are normally 30 degrees cooler this time of year. This comes as the National Snow and Ice Data Center recorded a record-low sea ice extent for the Arctic Ocean in April, noting that almost all of the sea ice more than four years old is gone. Over the weekend, meteorologists measured carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at over 415 parts per million — the highest level in human history, and a concentration that’s not been seen on Earth in over 3 million years.
A campaigner from Big Brother Watch – who were protesting the use of cameras on the day – was also filmed telling an officer: ‘I would have done the same.’
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/15/bike-handle-stuck-woman-two-years-husband-shoved-vagina-9556829/ My summary – This shows how women get treated when they are not respected in a society and become helpless pawns. Husband intoxicated by alcohol – such a common drug abuse. Woman 30 has six children, can't have any more. Might be good for her in the long run – depends on husband. If she hasn't had boys he might put her aside.
Millions of birds are being sucked out of trees and killed each year to feed our olive oil habit. Iconic birds such as robins, warblers and wagtails have seen their numbers decimated because of intensive farming practices. Experts have warned the international community that it needs to act before legally-protected species disappear for good. During the winter months, birds from central and northern Europe, flock to the Mediterranean basin. At the same time, the olive oil harvest happens in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal…
Farmers use large and intensive harvesting machines at night to strip the trees of their fruit. However, the birds are sleeping in the trees and are getting sucked into the machines on a ‘catastrophic scale.’…But, 96,000 birds are known to die in Portugal every winter as a result of this technique.
RSPCA director of conservation, Martin Harper, said: ‘Numbers of farmland birds in Europe have plummeted by 55% over the last three decades and this is another shocking example of how modern agricultural practices are impacting our bird populations, including some UK species passing through the region.’
And koalas. This cant' be.
The Australian Koala Foundation has confirmed that, with only 80,000 members of the species left in the wild there isn’t enough to support a new generation.
They’ve declared the marsupial ‘functionally extinct’ which means the population has dropped so low it no longer has any effect on its surrounding environment. Koalas have too few breeding adults left to support the species and any kind of genetic disease or pathogen would put the final nail in the coffin.
Koalas are dying out due to effects caused by climate change. Rising temperatures are causing heatwaves that kill thousands of koalas through dehydration. The species has also suffered hugely from deforestation. According to the Australian Koala Foundation, there are no koalas left at all in 41 out of 128 Federal environments where they have known habitats.
I suggest NZ sets up a fund to support the Koala Foundation and give the Australians a message that they need to both support their own vulnerable animals and the Kiwi people who live there and who they have arbitrarily arrested on spurious grounds and hold in camps against international law precedents. Maybe there will be some politicians who have integrity to do something for the Koalas and the Kiwis.
When you think these pricks had hit peak vileness.
Oklahoma state legislator Rep. Justin Humphrey is sponsoring a draconian bill, HB 1441, that would require a woman to get written permission from her sexual partner if she wants to have an abortion.
Attempting to justify the despicable legislation Rep. Humphrey told The Intercept that women have no right to bodily autonomy once they are pregnant because they are merely “hosts”:
I understand that they feel like that is their body. I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant.
The Missouri House has voted to approve some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and because it's Missouri, the process somehow managed to include a Republican lawmaker defending the bill by talking about, sigh, "consensual rape."
[…]
It was on the issue of exceptions for rape victims that Hovis, a retired Cape Girardeau police lieutenant first elected to office in 2017, took his stand. He pointed out that "most of the rapes" that he saw in law enforcement didn't involve "gentlemen jumping out of bushes."
"Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes," he continued, "which were all terrible, but I'd sit in court when juries would struggle with those situations, where it was a 'he-said-she-said,' which was unfortunate if it really happened."
Having suggested that rape is often no big deal — because hey, if it didn't happen at gunpoint, it's a real struggle for a jury to know what to do — Hovis finally seemed to find his point, which appeared to be that that rape victims would still have plenty of time, after the rape, to decide whether to get an abortion
If you're looking for someone without a humorous bone in her body, and lacking even a rudimentary sense of the ridiculous, you can't go past this thoroughly Anglo, non-German, fool (unfunny fool)….
no, you just looked for a reason to again post one of your pointless video clips.
it has nothing do to with what i posted, and it is so far removed from anything that really it is just your typical posting a shit video so that you can post a shit video.
and when it comes to you and your shit videos i am just bored and bored, and bored, and bored, and bored.
no, you just looked for a reason to again post one of your pointless video clips.
"Pointless"? You didn't get the point? Frankly, I'm not surprised.
it has nothing do to with what i posted,
In fact, it has everything to do with what you posted. In a fit of self-deprecation, you repeated the stupid falsehood that Germans "don't have a sense of humour." I helpfully steered you to an example of someone—a non-German— completely lacking any sense of humour, or absurdity, or even increasingly—it's been clear for more than two years now—any grasp of reality.
and it is so far removed from anything that really it is just your typical posting a shit video so that you can post a shit video.
???? You really can't understand that clip? Really?
and when it comes to you and your shit videos i am just bored and bored, and bored, and bored, and bored.
There are German writers I admire tremendously: Mann, Sebald, Roth. Your embarrassing and awkwardly phrased rants are not quite in their company, I'm sorry to say. Perhaps you should read a bit more, think a bit more, see if you can pick up a few stylistic tips from some of your compatriots who can actually write.
It's extremely serious. See, Andre is afflicted by these Russian bots, controlled by those Russian masterminds who control Trump, and …. hell, you know the rest. It's what Rachel Maddow says.
Thoughts and prayers, Andre. That evil Putin, darn him.
Hi Sabine It might have been one of my videos that you didn't like. Sorry. But I put them in as changes when the tone is too dark or it seems we need some light relief. They are just a break in between bouts of seriousness, or indeed slapstick occasionally.
You're a real gentleman, Mr Shark. But rest assured: unser guter freund Sabine has been confused and bewildered for a good two and a half years now. Sie kann dich nicht dafür verantwortlich machen.
Yep. I used to love one NDR programme in the mid-90s, can't remember what is was called now – everything absolutely deadpan, no clues you were supposed to find it funny, fuck it was good. Morrissey just lacks the self-awareness to recognise bigotry when he's indulging in it.
Sorry Milt, you've got the wrong end of the shoe here. It's our friend Sabine that's running down Germans, not me. I stuck up for them, having appreciated their music, literature, art, cinema, food, beer and, yes, their sense of humour for as long as I can remember.
The Trump administration has taken its war on abortion worldwide, cutting off all funding to any overseas organisation or clinic that will not agree to a complete ban on even discussing it.
The Mexico City policy, dubbed the “global gag” by its critics, denies US federal funds to any organisation involved in providing abortion services overseas or counselling women about them. It was instituted by the then US president Ronald Reagan and has been revoked by every Democrat and reinstated by every Republican president since.
“For the past three days, Ollie Langridge has sat on the lawn of Parliament, sitting on a bolster pillow wrapped in plastic, and holding a sign calling on the Government to declare a climate change emergency.
Langridge is a self-employed father of six, living in Thorndon with no political affiliation or ties to climate change advocacy groups – just a man worried about the future he's leaving for his children.
"I just see myself as a normal guy that doesn't know what to do and this is the best thing I could think of.”
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
The House - The principle that all MPs are honourable and that they should be taken at their word has been tested multiple times this week in Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock Since the review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) released its recommendations in December, there has been a series of Town Hall events to discuss them around the country ...
If there is going to be a new Conservative / Christian Party ..
Then they will need renounce those parts of the Bible that condemn Gays to hell ..
Like the Israel Folau outrage expressed..
But it wont happen will it. So neither the christians nor the outraged have credibility.
Over to Bridges and Ngaro…
Hi Vto
I do not recall Christ sending Gays to Hell.
Nor do I recall Christ playing Rugby Union.
However, HIV is still a big problem in our Society. Have you heard of that ?
Why bring up HIV? Curious, did Jesus mention HIV?
It must be big in rugby or something. I'm sure the preachers are on it.
Split the National Party vote.
Blue/Greens, New Conservatives, Ngaro Christian Party, Act Party.
That's a great plan. National might poll in the 20's on a good day.
Funny how the religious right are so selective in their reading of the Bible.
"Gays are unnatural and doomed to hell!"
The whole rich man going to heaven thing…..silence
LOL.
Along with usery.
"Talks between Labour and the government aimed at breaking the Brexit impasse have ended without an agreement." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48304867
What's stopping them find common ground? Corbyn "said his party had negotiated "in good faith and very seriously, and put forward a lot of very detailed arguments", which he thought was "the responsible thing to do". He added: "The issue [is] that the government has not fundamentally shifted its view and the divisions in the Conservative Party mean the government is negotiating with no authority and no ability that I can see to actually deliver anything.""
"Speaking after meeting Tory activists in Bristol, Mrs May said: "There have been areas where we have been able to find common ground, but other issues have proved to be more difficult. In particular, we haven't been able to overcome the fact that there isn't a common position in Labour about whether they want to deliver Brexit or hold a second referendum to reverse it."
In other words, there's obvious common ground: equivocation & disunity in both wings of the establishment. A common quicksand – no basis upon which to proceed.
Or to return to a frequent theme, this is a direct consequence of globalisation lacking common principles and democratic accountability.
Our physical reality is a world with 7 billion people that is one species rapidly converging as a single geo-social polity. Trade, travel, communication and a myriad of legal, commercial and technical mechanisms compel us into connection, yet the nation states have been unable to deliver an effective political mechanism to match.
Until we do expect more quicksand everywhere.
We've lived in an era in which there have been more and more powerful multilateral organizations and binding agreements across the known world than since the Christian church. Most of them formed in the last 70 years.
May and Corbyn simply don't believe in the best and most complex of these: the E.U.
Good point. You are quite correct, I carelessly glossed over that.
May and Corbyn simply don't believe in the best and most complex of these: the E.U.
Yet neither of these people are fools, nor all the aprox 50% of Britons who voted for Brexit. The question has to be why do they not believe in it? My answer is that we have yet to fully embrace the idea of globalisation as an moral idea. We believe in our families, our communities (whatever form they may take) and the nations we're citizens of yet somehow the next logical step, a belief in the organic unity of the human race, eludes us.
Stiglitz' 'Globalisation And Its Discontents' covers most of this ground.
I think we're about as unified as a human race as we are going to get, and we've done pretty well at it. Importantly we prefer the nation-state a the most powerful and enduring of the collective.
And honestly we expect too much from any one cross-national agreement, the CPTPP being a fairly strong recent one with buckets of extra moral suasion thrown in at the end to keep us happy.
I certainly expect the nation state to endure. Human history can be roughly modeled as successive extensions of our ability to unite. We started with modest family clan and tribal units, then built layers onto them, the village, the city state and currently the nation. It's crucial to recognise that each new layer incorporated and enhanced the ones that came before.
For instance, when the family/tribal unit is the largest political unit you have to work with, everything must be solved at that level. The appearance of the nation state far from being a constraint, liberated the family unit.
At this moment in history all the big problems we face are global in nature. Only when we have the political mechanisms at that scale to address them, will the nation states be liberated to reach their full and unsuspected potential.
And thanks for the Stiglitz link. Yes worth a read by the looks.
“The main message of Globalization and its Discontents was that the problem was not globalization, but how the process was being managed. Unfortunately, the management didn’t change. Fifteen years later, the new discontents have brought that message home to the advanced economies.”
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/globalization-new-discontents-by-joseph-e–stiglitz-2016-08
The global agreements that will bind nations to reverse the great global problems won't exist. We've pushed human cooperation as far as it's going to get. There's plenty of juice left in the existing organizations if they were supported. You can probably name good examples.
But there are plenty of other mechanisms that are more powerful than national and multinational agreements. The most powerful of them are markets, and many of those are already regulated in the broader interest very well.
Other mechanisms exists in only two of the most powerful countries we have: China and the United States. China's Belt and Road initiative for example. Plenty of faults, but no lack of international ambition or will.
Further mechanisms for global consensus exist in social media. Trump has led the way on how strong this mechanism is.
Even Ardern+Macron's Christchurch Call shows that agreement can simply start from fresh events. It's not a breakthrough, but it's a dent.
I don't think there's any need to wait until a global government arrives.
We've pushed human cooperation as far as it's going to get.
Yet this same statement could have been made by any of the tiny warlord duchy states prior to the emergence of say the unified German state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_states_of_Germany
Britain went through much the same turbulent era, such as the War of the Roses, as it transitioned from city state level of social unity to the nation state. Achieving a broader level of social cohesion never an easy process, and encounters much resistance. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; not all new forms are necessarily a good thing. It's wise that we should test the new before we commit irreversibly.
Yet there is a deep paradox in human social organisation. We value our freedom and independence, yet in isolation we perish. It's a terrible contradiction, but in order to gain true liberty we must first surrender part of our freedom. For example, in order to make the best use of a road we must collectively abide by the constraints of a road code. If we each retained the right to randomly choose whichever side of the road to drive on each morning, collectively the result would render them catastrophically useless.
Collectively we all share a planet and the nation states have reached the point where each must surrender a part of their sovereignty in order to evolve to their next step. Until then we're stuck in escalating cycles of mismanaged globalisation, confrontation and conflict.
I do agree with your last sentiment; waiting for a fully functioning federated global government is not necessary; there are many incremental steps along the way that can be achieved. The EU was as you say one of the better attempts.
Germany is a Federation within a Community.
It is Germany's sense of postwar cross-national amity that sought a structure of cooperation that would stop all future wars, and that evolved from the EC to the EU we have today.
The E.U. is still expanding, so that impulse is still alive. But barely.
So the historical circumstance is pretty different to what you point to.
I'm still waiting for the Pacific Islands to figure that their tiny non-sustaining little fiefdoms are better amalgamated into a pan-national confederation. They've got plenty to fight for after all.
In the meantime New Zealand needs to keep dear, dear hold of that special relationship with Australia. That's as close as we're going to get to Federation with something of any heft.
So the historical circumstance is pretty different to what you point to.
In the normal course of events you are right, the impulse toward higher levels of cooperation is fitful and unsatisfying.
But every now and then, such as in the aftermath of WW1 and WW2, we have a moment of clarity, when in horror and shame at what we have done, we take a decisive step.
We have a choice, doing this the hard way, or the very horrifyingly traumatic way. But it will happen, because the alternatives to my mind are not acceptable.
Seems to me it's the difference between ideal & reality. United Europe is an excellent idea. The consequent eurocracy has alienated too many people. Just as the United Nations was an excellent idea, discredited by dysfunction.
What's necessary in high-level political organisations is appropriate design, followed by smooth operation. Design flaws and malfunctions must be eliminated as they appear. Instead, the human tendency to instutionalise such problems kicks in. The tacit assumption `fixing it is too hard' prevails. We need to empower fixers. Democracy selects non-fixers.
We've lived in an era in which there have been more and more powerful multilateral organizations and binding agreements across the known world than since the Christian church. Most of them formed in the last 70 years.
Very powerful and ubiquitous these new religions eg Harari (sapiens)
“The capitalist and consumerist ethics are two sides of the same coin, a merger of two commandments. The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’ The capitalist–consumerist ethic is revolutionary in another respect. Most previous ethical systems presented people with a pretty tough deal. They were promised paradise, but only if they cultivated compassion and tolerance, overcame craving and anger, and restrained their selfish interests. This was too tough for most. The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to. Most Christians did not imitate Christ, most Buddhists failed to follow Buddha, and most Confucians would have caused Confucius a temper tantrum. In contrast, most people today successfully live up to the capitalist–consumerist ideal. The new ethic promises paradise on condition that the rich remain greedy and spend their time making more money and that the masses give free reign to their cravings and passions and buy more and more. This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do. How though do we know that we'll really get paradise in return? We've seen it on television.”
I've been waiting to see how long it would take for kiwi entrepeneurs to rise to the challenge of waste recycling since the early eighties. It's finally happened!
"New Zealand's soft packaging recycling scheme is about to start up again on Monday, after being suspended last year when global recycling options dried up." https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/05/soft-packaging-recycling-scheme-relaunches-in-new-zealand.html
"When China stopped taking plastic in 2018, it had a knock-on effect. Our soft plastics had been going to Australia but with a global market flooded with plastic, we can no longer rely on overseas processors and are forced to manage our own waste. Soft plastic has no commercial value and is difficult to repurpose."
"That's where Jerome Wenzlick steps in. He's a farmer and fencer who came up with an idea while putting up fencing at a rubbish dump. "We were putting wooden posts into the ground and the posts were snapping and we thought why don't we make some posts out of the plastic that's in the ground," he told Newshub. He's set up a company called Future Post and since the start of the year, he's recycled 300 tonnes – that's 75 truck loads."
"The soft plastic is sorted and granulated, then mixed with milk bottles, before going through a New Zealand-designed and built extruder to melt and reform it into fence posts. The equivalent of 550 plastic bags goes into making each post."
Thanks Dennis, a bit of good news that includes atypical ingenuity.
Is is going too far to call it plastic sequestering?
If this gets off the ground maybe they could talk to each other:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/111784322/feilding-could-home-new-zealands-first-plastic-reprocessing-centre#comments
Fancy a district council being that enterprising! "It's up to the Manawatū District Council to persuade the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment after the provincial development unit handed it $81,000 to put together a business plan."
I hope the economics is viable. Fits in with regional development too eh? Not many jobs but they all help. I wouldn't trust the MBIE to necessarily get it right though.
If they fail to approve it, the MDC ought to pay a leading economic consultancy to appraise the plan too, to identify whatever the design flaw is, or it exists merely in the minds of bureaucrats, formulate a contrary analysis in support of it which the MDC could then submit directly to the minister for regional development – or the minister for the environment, perhaps. Because a viable scheme could be copied in other regions…
This, or any other proposal, when a district council is involved, can only succeed when it doesn't clash with councillor's own vested interests.
So to have councils being the ones to tackle climate change, doesn't fill me with hope especially the provincial councils.
Yes, that's a realistic view of local body politics. And why the MDC initiative is so unusual. To be optimistic, one could also anticipate a copycat effect, which is likely if the scheme works. That would provide a progressive trend.
Is the Christchurch killer a terrorist, or a white person?
Both I would have said.
he is both,
a white supremist terrorist.
there, that was not hard.
The White supremacist shooter is only being charged with 'murder'.
Tam Iti, who is not white, was charged with terrorism.
Despite not killing, or even threatening to kill, anyone.
A double standard?
Guilty of terrorism until proven white?
I will repeat the question, and enlarge on it.
Is the Christchurch killer a terrorist, or a white person?
Are white people, not terrorists by definition?
How can anyone explain this discrepancy?
While agreeing that the way Tame Iti was treated was appaĺling and most certainly had a racist element to it, the major flaw in your argument is that he couldn't be charged with murder, having not killed anyone! Besides, the murder charge for the Chch perpetrator is, as I understand it, only an initial charge and there is more to come. I think you are comparing apples with oranges
…the major flaw in your argument is that he [Tama Iti] couldn't be charged with murder, having not killed anyone! JanM
Hi Jan,
I didn't argue, that Tama Iti should have been charged with murder. That would have obviously been completely ridiculous, (almost as completely ridiculous as charging him with terrorism).
I contended that if Tama Iti could be charged with terrorism, (despite not terrorising anyone), then the Christchurch white supremacist must be charged with terrorism, after oganising and planning an attack that killed 51 innocent New Zealand men women and children.
I further contend; that to not to charge this white supremacist with committing a terrorist act would represent a racist double standard.
….the murder charge for the Chch perpetrator is, as I understand it, only an initial charge and there is more to come. JanM
Jan you are absolutely right, the police can bring extra charges under the Suppression Of Terrorism. But will they?
Can a white person be a terrorist in New Zealand, or not?
The whole world is watching.
I am hopeful that this white supremacist mass murderer, will face extra charges laid under the Suppression Of Terrorism Act.
I hope that I am not proved wrong.
I suspect (though don't know) that if hes charged with murder its probably because charging him with terrorism might be problematic in getting the conviction whereas 51 counts of murder will certainly be easier to prove
I understand that is correct. Much easier to get a conviction for multiple murders.
to be honest you need to take that up with the current government not me.
to me he is a white supremacist and a terrorist and a mass murderer and an all around shitheel.
Any other question you may have you need to address with those that make the rules and that ain't me.
As for the privilege that white people have i have on more then on occasion addressed the fact that us white people have it, want it and are currently crying big tears about the fact that we are loosing it. And again, my position is that white people should never have had that privilege in the first place and in the case of many countries only got to be the top dog by systematically killing and eradicating the first nations by point of gun, with the help of chicken pox invested blankets, starvation, stolen generations and so forth.
As for those that cry over lost 'equality' in this country of any other 'white' country, i would like to point out that people of color, and women/children of all colors never were considered 'equal', never had 'equal rights' and certainly did not have the 'equal protection' accorded to white men in the courts of law and public opinion.
I hope this answers all your question for now.
You haz questions. The esteemed and learned Professor Geddis haz answers.
Go to https://www.pundit.co.nz/ and scroll down to March 16, 2019. (the URL for the article contains the fuckwit's name so it gets caught in the moderation trap here)
tl;dr Charging the fuckwit with terrorism involves trying to prove stuff like state of mind that's much more difficult to prove than the bare facts of his murderous actions. In any case, getting a conviction for terrorism on top of the murders won't have any material effect on what his sentence is likely to be. So yes, that shows the terrorism law is not fit for purpose and needs to be changed.
it wont have any material effect on sentencing but it will set precedent (and unfortunately provide platform) ….if this isnt a terrorist act then what is?…is that a question worth asking including removal of some future defendant using a lack of charge in this instance as a potential defence?
currently in the US
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/17/1858446/-Republican-Party-Is-on-the-Road-to-Mass-Lockups-for-Women-Who-Have-Miscarriages-by-Thom-Hartmann?utm_campaign=recent
"During Mike Pence’s first year as governor of Indiana, his state put a young woman in prison for having a miscarriage, alleging that she’d taken an abortion-causing drug. Purvi Patel didn’t have a trace of such a drug in her system, but Pence’s state sentenced her to 20 years in prison anyway. Just a few years earlier, Indiana had also held Bei Bei Shuai for 435 days in the brutal maximum security Marion County prison, facing 45 years to life for trying to kill herself and, in the process, causing the death of her 33-week fetus.
Utah charged 28-year-old Melissa Ann Rowland with murder because she refused a C-section, preferring vaginal birth for her twins, and one of them died. Sixteen-year-old Rennie Gibbs was charged by the state of Mississippi with “depraved heart murder” when her baby was born dead because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck: her crime was that she had cocaine in her bloodstream, according to prosecutors. Angela Carder was ordered to have a C-section to deliver her baby before she died of cancer; both she and the baby died from the procedure."
yeah, lets all just mock the idea of some religious zealots having a party in NZ and getting a say in Parliament because the Party of No mates is run by wet toast covered in margarine.
Cause we absolutely should not look to what happens in other countries and wonder if we want the same shit happening here.
Geez, that is horrific Sabine..
Sabine (5) this is shocking! Yet they are out there, those "Christian" zealot conservative white males, wanting complete control over vulnerable women and girls. Demonstrating total ignorance of the highest order!
I'd be interested to know if the same cruel rules and actions would apply to the wives, daughters and granddaughters of the sadistic, vile Mike Pences of the world, whose rabid and dangerous mindsets belong back in the dark ages and before that even.
NZers have to be very alert as to who/what creeps into our political system, particularly when it comes to electing representatives.
the whole point is not to give married women grief (at least for now), but to harrass unmarried women who may only have sex for fun or so and force them back under the tutelage of Daddy until given over to Hubby at the church. Ownership over women and children is the whole point. The fetus is just the tool to achieve that.
in saying that, if you look at south america you will see that many women already are in prison for having miscarriages/or self induced abortions as the doctors don't want to incriminate themselves or simply report them to police and ……..locking up some poor women is just easier then proving solutions that would allow women access to science based healthcare, prenatal care, and / or simply the right to live a live save of sexual predators.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24532694
https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuador-abortion-miscarriage-prosecution/
Tracey Watkins swansong????
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/112809543/palaces-protests-prime-ministers-and-a-donald-trump-hat–memories-ive-got-a-few
I faced it all and I stood tall; I did it my way.
She certainly managed to demonstrate an inteĺlectual bypass. Facile and disingenuous
Indeed
"Clark moved in artistic circles but probably didn't have an arty bone in her body" (pfft!)
and of Key "Behind the humour and optimism was a sharp financial brain" I presume she means in a Nick Leeson kind of way
I'm hoping she's not going to be put on the RNZ goto list of rent-a-voices – it's been under a big enough threat as it is.
Humbling to realise that decades of experience in a job does not necessarily make you any wiser. We deserve better.
We do deserve better, but we rarely get it. Most journalists, in this country anyway, are certainly members of the B team 😣
Modern, innovative learning environment in re-born Christchurch.
Police have been called in after a pig in the school's petting zoo had a stick stuck up its bum.
At the very least the children should have been taught how to slaughter and prepare the pig before putting it on the spit.
Seriously, is this school an anomaly, or is this the reality for education today?
An in depth article which gathers opinions from both sides.
Many staff who had their own children enrolled had since removed them, they said.
"I know those leaders were really intent on believing in the school philosophy but at the end of the day, after under two years, they just couldn't sacrifice their beloved kids.
"They [Haeata management] developed a philosophy without knowing the kids. They left out the most important thing."
Kai Fong said that every staff member had the opportunity to give feedback and meet face to face with the board if they chose.
Relief teacher Nadine Garrett liked Haeata's environment but said it wasn't right for everyone.
"I felt really sorry for the traditional teachers, they felt like they were just floating."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/112671944/pet-pig-assaulted-by-christchurch-school-students
Personally, I'd find the noise in a classroom of 300 self -directed learners unbearable and while its laudable for the school to use incidences of bullying as a learning opportunity it appears it is not doing much to reduce the level of violence.
Shameful experiment tried out on the poorest people in town
Unbelievable
Why didn't the education department try it out in Remuera? Or Fendalton? Or Max Key's school?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
We all know the answer. Fuck the rich.
'We all know the answer. Fuck the rich.'
Do tell – how is this 'the rich's' fault ?
While you're at it who are there 'rich' ?
Perhaps in this instance the MoE was trying to do the right thing and the school in question just lacked the appropriate leadership and governance.
It's going to take a while and a lot of training to bring mainstream teachers to a point where they can operate successfully in an environment like this. Its basic kaupapa would appear to be similar to the ec Te Whariki curriculum and is common sense to us (I am ece trained ) but very scary, I would think, to a lot of the 'chalk and talk' brigade. By the way, I would never leave animals unprotected in any environment around children, no matter what their backgrounds. The inability to show kindness and compassion is most emphaticaĺly not confined to any one class or ethnicity.
Headmaster…
Kai Fong said there was no evidence to suggest the rate of violence was higher at Haeata than other schools and he believed there was an "inherent bias" against the east side of Christchurch. "I think the preconception of more violence here is unjustified."
However, he said a proportion of Haeata's pupils struggled to "engage consistently in learning" and some "do not have the requisite social and emotional skills to be fully functional in learning".
A former teacher recalled incidents in 2017 when a glass object was thrown near an itinerant teacher and smashed. She was also told to "f… off, you b….," while being swung at with a traffic patrol pole by a 5-year-old. Children threw scooters, rode bikes inside, and there was constant swearing and verbal abuse.
As a result, the teacher took two terms off with post-traumatic stress, and had private counselling for 12 weeks.
The following year, the school sought police help to change the culture. The "highly successful initiative" focused on "pro-social behaviours" with girls at Haeata.
It seems counterintuitive to have a bunch of kids with known behavioural and learning difficulties in such an open plan environment. Too much noise and distraction and it would be damn near impossible to concentrate. I wonder if (in these days of mainstreaming kids with learning/behavioural issues) they have a squadron of teacher aides,or if they have 'special' rooms where those kids that are struggling can go for quiet time.
It would be interesting to know the make up of the kids being pulled from Haeata.
Kids with parents who give a toss I guess.
”We all know the answer. Fuck the rich.”
thats the the kind of comment often made by people who are far from rich and normally because of their own actions.
Stop being so bitter.
Experience in how politicians and government interact with the rich, relative to how they interact with the poor, points directly to such a school never being allowed to be experimented in Remuera or Fendalton.
Wake up.
No apology, but yes plenty of bitterness. All very real. Is why society is cleaving down the middle. Fuck the rich and their politicians.
An inane response that one can only pontificate a real looser that is looking for sone one to blame re their lot
Why is the word "loser" so hard to spell?
I note that loose spelling too.
This quote confirms a comment I made the other day about the difficulties that teachers have these days.
But a former teacher said teaching was impossible because they would spend their time wrangling naughty students. "I can't believe what a bad teacher I became," they said.
If this is an experimental school it has too big a roll. Nearly a thousand children can't be thrown together with the emphasis on them finding their own preferences.
I was waiting in the library at school while one of my children was in a class decades ago and the kids were supposed to be using the library facilities and looking at the range of books. One boy got out a motor magazine and turned the pages making vroom,vroom noises. I was helping another who couldn't concentrate his mind because he wanted to watch his friend. Encouraging him to work out a plan for a short piece on what he remembered from a trip to California was very difficult. Distraction is no good for the 10 second attention span generation.
Is the National Party tearing itself apart? Here's a letter posted on kiwiblog today.
Chuck Bird
It will be interesting to see which National MPs respond.
To all National MP’s
As a National supporter for the past 47 years, I wish to voice my disgust at your actions in supporting the Government in the passing of the recent bill to make criminals of law abiding gun owners. I attended a recent meeting in Te Awamutu where MP’s Bishop and Kuriger were speaking about this very topic. I have never been in a group of people so hostile to anybody, let alone MPs. I would venture to say that about 300-350 people were there. Most would have been National party supporters. For how long, I can only guess. If they are like me, not for much longer, unless you change the way you are heading.
Your actions were despicable in casting aside the rights of law abiding citizens. All in the name of socialist ideology. I thought that was the purvue of the left. How wrong I am.
This will be posted on my blog site http://www.ysb.co.nz . It is a blog dedicated to upholding free speech and WAS a National Party support blog. Your actions mentioned above have seriously bought this support into question.
Your replies will be appreciated
Regards
Chris Roberts
MAY 18, 2019 9:10AM
well that is a bit of a stretch would you not think?
Consider that the only one type of weapon was outlawed and a few tools around ( i am not a gun enthusiast so am not too versed in that lingo) and that he still can own chickenshit loads of other weapons for his hunting and collecting needs.
So no, legal gun owner have not been criminalised, but a legal gun owner has mowed down 50 people and maybe he should think about that too.
But he is lucky, soon he can vote for a bunch of "Not National – but almost" Parties and all is good again.
Diddums to Chris. He can't be Rambo this weekend.
The 37 odd comments criticising Simon and the National Party are very telling.
https://ysb.co.nz/email-to-all-national-mps/#comments
Earlier today, I read the then 25 comments and they were so stereotypical of RWNJs that I thought that blog was an extremely well done parody of KB. Fact is stranger than fiction and reality is scarier than nightmares.
Australia goes to the polls.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/17/australian-election-day-guide-what-you-need-to-know
Watch the Oz election live here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Vr1mfnWVY
Hope the "Bob Bounce" carries Shorten home but GO THE GREENS.
Thanks!. I've been suffering Skoi News Stray ya.
They just had some fukwit on called Poida Duddin, Minstafa Homo Fears
The means of exchange need to be regulated as otherwise when it becomes an end to itself, value systems and directions are lead by donkeys towards cliffs.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-fines-major-banks-1-billion-over-currency-cartels/a-48759642
It already is.
The systemic failing is that the regulators are the financial institutions.
They exist in a mutual symbiotic relationship to ensure the flows.
$1bn dollar fine is simply… good business for all involved.
It would seem likely that the majority of collusion that takes place with the use of financial bubbles in unproductive predatory capitalism would involve relatively concentrated/substantial actors rather than such endeavours being the co-operation of multitudes, so a small financial transaction tax system could be a good way to provide tag and trace info to that, which can then be graduated up down the chain when critical thresholds start to be traced before such acts are able to be followed through to completion.
FTT you think there is hope to get that?
Or are you just continuing the legendary oral history tradition so you can recite it to your great-grandchildren about the inglorious past.
"I don't know what the POINT is. … I don't think that it HELPS."
Incredibly, Jeremy Rose contends that Ben Shapiro was treated unfairly by Andrew Neil
Lately, RNZ National, Wednesday 15 May 2019, 10:30 pm
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/lately/audio/2018695310/midweek-mediawatch
Midweek MediaWatch
Jeremy Rose is this weeks Midweek Mediawatcher.
Rose delivers his mostly banal ruminations in a croaky basso profundo, his words larded with an extraordinarily high "um" and "y' know" count. Donovan's role is to meekly underscore Rose's philosophical gems occasionally with a supportive "Mmmm, mmmm."
EMIL DONOVAN: It's time for Midweek Media Watch, our weekly catch-up with the Mediawatch teeeeam, one of the Mediawatch team, to talk about all things media. Today it's Jeremy Rose's turn in the chair. Hullo, Jeremy.
JEREMY ROSE: Gid-daaaaay Emil, how ARE ya?
EMIL DONOVAN: Very well thank you. Ahhhh, what've you got for us this week?
JEREMY ROSE: Well I THOUGHT I'd start with the "power of the signature" you were just talking, y'know, about….
Rose spends an inordinate time talking about a woman's Facebook petition to change the Milo recipe. Donovan thinks this is a very serious topic: "It taps into the cultural zeitgeist, doesn't it," he observes.
Next topic: a Russian blogger called "Stalin Gulag" who operates on a site called Telegram. "It shows the importance of social media for holding the powerful to account," says Rose.
Rose says something about the need to break up Facebook, and then moves on to the distasteful topic of white supremacist sites like 8chan. He praises recent work on this by Max Towle and Patrick Gower. Rose plays a clip of Gower in fighting mood: "I'm ready for ANOTHER go with Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern." That cuts no ice with Jeremy Rose, however. He reckons that interviewing people like Molyneux and Southern is unwise—"these people are nonentities"—and akin to a prizefight.
So far, so humdrum. Then the interview with Jeremy Rose, who's billed as a media "expert", becomes foolish, bizarre, almost inexplicable. It turns out that Rose, who just a couple of minutes earlier talked grandly about "the importance of social media for holding the powerful to account", does not think that the mainstream media, i.e. the BBC, should hold the powerful or the influential to account at all. In fact, he says, there's no "point" in holding the words of a brutal racist against him in an interview. "I just don't think it HELPS", he croaks to an obviously unconvinced Donovan. Here, for those who can stomach pretentiousness and bewilderment dressed up as media commentary, is four minutes of Jeremy Rose's dire and dismal vaporing….
(For those listening on the audio link, the horror starts at the 19:33 mark)
JEREMY ROSE: …..so I really wanna know WHY you'd bother getting them on. And that kinda brings us to ANOTHER one that's had a bit of a sporting overtone. I think you were quite keen to talk about, which is the Ben Shapiro—
EMIL DONOVAN: Yes.
JEREMY ROSE: —interview. A well known, American, ultra-conservative, right wing commentator with a LOT of Twitter followers, I think, y'know, well over a million—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: And he was interviewed on the BBC byyyyy, um—-
EMIL DONOVAN: Andrew Neil, the notorious hard-nosed interviewer Andrew Neil. Yeah this was a FASCINATING interview, wasn't it.
JEREMY ROSE: It, it really was. Shall we—let's, let's have a listen to a BIT of it.
JEREMY ROSE: Y-y-yeah, ha, so y' know, uh, it's gone VIRAL on the internet. Everyone, including ahhhh, Shapiro, say that it, that it was a DISASTROUS performance by him. He's tweeted, though, "Neil one, Shapiro zero." Again, that sporting kind of metaphor.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: Wanting a rematch. I don't think there was much in it, I don't think you LEARNT much, and I ACTUALLY think he had a KIND of point, whe-e-e-ere, that there was, y'know, when he was accused of being from the Dark Ages—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: —which is obviously a metaphor. But it wasn't actually that HELPFUL, and it ended UP just being …. [long caesura]…. for want of a better word, a shit fight.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: A-and I'm NOT sure that that REALLY serves ANYBODY.
EMIL DONOVAN: Yeah, I know it was fascinating stuff wasn't it. It's um, yeeeahh, the idea that—I mean, it's a TEMPTING metaphor. Sporting metaphors ARE tempting when it comes to, to interviews like tha-a-a-at, because the, a confrontational interview can sometimes be NECESSARY, right? Y' know? And, and sometimes there IS a winner and a loser out of an interview. And sometimes people are satisfied by seeing that. But it's not necessarily a HELPFUL metaphor.
JEREMY ROSE: No-o-o-o. And I, and I, and that whole idea of kinda punching OUT and a winner. And that was how it was portrayed, because he kept THROWING these ABSOLUTELY obnoxious quotes which he had ma-a-a-ade—
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: —in the past at him, and asking him to DEFEND them. ….[long caesura]…. I don't know what the POINT is. If I hadn't seen the interview, I wouldn't know that this guy had made these racist, revolting comments about Arabs, about—- And I don't think that it HELPS, knowing that.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm.
JEREMY ROSE: Ahhhm, and he did have a BOOK out, I've got NO idea what he says in the book. There was nothing in it in the interview.
EMIL DONOVAN: Well I think this was the thing about it, that the book was about the rise of, um, extremist discourse, and, and, and ANGER within sort of SOCIETY and I think that Andrew Neil was pointing out the hypocrisy of the idea that Ben Shapiro would write a book about anger and society when he had contributed to it himself through his previous kinds of statements. But it's a very interesting kind of issue, isn't it—
JEREMY ROSE: Yeah.
EMIL DONOVAN: —and one that I imagine we won't see go away, because they always seem to be held up as SPECTACLES, these interviews, y'know….
JEREMY ROSE: I think that's exactly right. It, it, it's interviewers' performance. I think when we're dealing with things that matter as much as white supremacy, THAT's not the time to do that. To me-e-e-e-e, THAT's actually exactly what white supremacist type people would ENJOY.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mmmm, mmmm. It's sort of, yeah, the fuzzy line where information blurs into entertainment. Yeahhhh. Well, uh, Jeremy, thanks so much for that. Really appreciate it.
JEREMY ROSE: Oh thanks very much.
EMIL DONOVAN: Mediawatch's Jeremy Rose.
More Mediawatch mediocrity….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/liars-of-our-time-no-27-lyse-doucet-i.html
Morrissey
1. Andrew Neil is an excellent interviewer. He has variously made mincemeat of Jeremy Corbyn, Diana Abbot, Natalie Bennett and many others. Andrew has no problem tackling those on the right of politics, it is just that generally the left provide easier targets.
2. Andrew underestimated Ben Shapiro's intellect, and his attack dog line about Georgia's abortion law was ill-informed and justified Ben's response. At the same time, Ben was clearly ill-informed about Andrew's interview style, and came across as petulant. That's a shame, because Ben is intellectually the superior of virtually anyone Andrew will have interviewed, and the exchange could have been far more productive if both men had been better prepared.
3. For anyone to suggest Ben Shapiro was treated 'unfairly' by Andrew Neil is nonsense. Ben has been interviewed countless times, he has spoken to openly hostile audiences and has faced de-platforming by the lefty snowflakes on US campus's. In short, he is tougher than the person you quote gives him credit for.
4. Take time to listen to what Ben Shapiro says. You might not agree with him, but unlike some of the crazies on both the left and right of politics, Ben is a sound thinker, who speaks a rational, conservative voice into the issues of the day.
He "made mincemeat" of Corbyn, did he? That seems unlikely.
I and I'm sure many others got a laugh from your comical assertion about Shapiro's great intellect.
Corbyn is a lightweight. No, I'll go further, he's a fool.
And it's a shame you have judged Shapiro without listening to him. You're the one missing out on that score.
I've listened to Shapiro, sadly. Unlike you, I've listened to him with a critical ear.
Your comment about Corbyn is as ridiculous as your insistence that Shapiro, that canting, brutal racist, is "a sound thinker."
Provide a single example of Ben Shapiro being 'racist'.
Watch the disastrous (for Shapiro) interview with Andrew Neil again. Neil reels off example after example of Nazi-quality filth, all of them direct quotes from Shapiro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
Disastrous? You are joking right?
And just over 16 minutes of video and you still haven't given a single example of Ben Shapiro being racist. Quote just one, Morrisey.
rofl, Oh my – just one.
"Arabs like to bomb shit, and live in garbage" – yeah that is racist.
Quote your source, and the context.
Are you really that stupid Shadrach?
It's from the video, which proves you either an idiot or bloody lazy…
Clearly nearly everything you've stated is wrong shadders. Lies or stupidity?
Wow you’ve just excelled yourself at hit and run.
You are excoriating Morrissey of all in broadcasting and media generally.
I hope someone pays you for all that. I don't think TS does, so whom?
You are excoriating Morrissey of all in broadcasting and media generally.
Your statement is demonstrably incorrect. A quick review of my oeuvre shows I am more than happy to praise ethical, talented and conscientious journalists—both locally and internationally. On this forum and on many others I have praised: Julian Assange, Max Blumenthal, Mihi Forbes, Juan González, Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, Nicky Hager, Amira Hass, Paul Jay, Caitlin Johnstone, Gideon Levy, Selwyn Manning, Abby Martin, Aaron Maté, Matt Nippert, Paula Penfold, John Pilger, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill, Jon Stephenson….
That's just a few off the top of my head, in alphabetical order. I've praised every one of them at least once, some of them many times.
I hope someone pays you for all that. I don't think TS does, so whom?
What difference does it make? Mike Hosking gets paid to produce his rubbish; all the easy money in the world doesn't give him an ounce of credibility.
Godbye world.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/16/headlines/arctic_ocean_temperatures_soar_as_nearly_all_old_arctic_sea_ice_has_vanished Arctic Ocean
Temperatures Soar as Nearly All Old Arctic Sea Ice Has Vanished HEADLINEMAY 16, 2019
In climate news, temperatures near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia reached a record-shattering 84 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend, in an area where high temperatures are normally 30 degrees cooler this time of year. This comes as the National Snow and Ice Data Center recorded a record-low sea ice extent for the Arctic Ocean in April, noting that almost all of the sea ice more than four years old is gone. Over the weekend, meteorologists measured carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at over 415 parts per million — the highest level in human history, and a concentration that’s not been seen on Earth in over 3 million years.
Some horribly fascinating things.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/16/moment-man-fined-90-hiding-face-police-facial-recognition-cameras-9571463/ The man pulled his jumper up above his chin as he walked past Met Police officers trialling Live Facial Recognition software in east London. BBC cameras filmed as officers swooped on the man, told him to ‘wind his neck in’ then handed him the hefty penalty charge.
A campaigner from Big Brother Watch – who were protesting the use of cameras on the day – was also filmed telling an officer: ‘I would have done the same.’
This not so bad. I am thinking that's a good design for a simple bus shelter. https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/17/bus-shelter-built-road-no-buses-9582629/
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/15/bike-handle-stuck-woman-two-years-husband-shoved-vagina-9556829/ My summary – This shows how women get treated when they are not respected in a society and become helpless pawns. Husband intoxicated by alcohol – such a common drug abuse. Woman 30 has six children, can't have any more. Might be good for her in the long run – depends on husband. If she hasn't had boys he might put her aside.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/17/middle-class-murder-millions-birds-vacuumed-death-olive-picking-9584002/
Millions of birds are being sucked out of trees and killed each year to feed our olive oil habit. Iconic birds such as robins, warblers and wagtails have seen their numbers decimated because of intensive farming practices. Experts have warned the international community that it needs to act before legally-protected species disappear for good. During the winter months, birds from central and northern Europe, flock to the Mediterranean basin. At the same time, the olive oil harvest happens in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal…
Farmers use large and intensive harvesting machines at night to strip the trees of their fruit. However, the birds are sleeping in the trees and are getting sucked into the machines on a ‘catastrophic scale.’…But, 96,000 birds are known to die in Portugal every winter as a result of this technique.
RSPCA director of conservation, Martin Harper, said: ‘Numbers of farmland birds in Europe have plummeted by 55% over the last three decades and this is another shocking example of how modern agricultural practices are impacting our bird populations, including some UK species passing through the region.’
And koalas. This cant' be.
The Australian Koala Foundation has confirmed that, with only 80,000 members of the species left in the wild there isn’t enough to support a new generation.
They’ve declared the marsupial ‘functionally extinct’ which means the population has dropped so low it no longer has any effect on its surrounding environment. Koalas have too few breeding adults left to support the species and any kind of genetic disease or pathogen would put the final nail in the coffin.
Koalas are dying out due to effects caused by climate change. Rising temperatures are causing heatwaves that kill thousands of koalas through dehydration. The species has also suffered hugely from deforestation. According to the Australian Koala Foundation, there are no koalas left at all in 41 out of 128 Federal environments where they have known habitats.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/16/koalas-now-functionally-extinct-9565982/?ico=pushly-notifcation-small&utm_source=pushly
I suggest NZ sets up a fund to support the Koala Foundation and give the Australians a message that they need to both support their own vulnerable animals and the Kiwi people who live there and who they have arbitrarily arrested on spurious grounds and hold in camps against international law precedents. Maybe there will be some politicians who have integrity to do something for the Koalas and the Kiwis.
From the UK political scene.
Latest on Brexit and May-not. 17 May 2019
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/17/prime-minister-theresa-may-tears-forced-say-will-quit-9580917/
Summary – May must go before June 30. Boris has put his name forward. Jeremy says that talks are not getting anywhere.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/17/neo-nazi-plotted-murder-mp-rosie-cooper-jailed-life-9583420/ 17May 2019 Summary – Young white youth – his ideas poisoned by evil ideas was planning to knife a woman MP. (Remember one woman MP was shot a few years ago.)
When you think these pricks had hit peak vileness.
Oklahoma state legislator Rep. Justin Humphrey is sponsoring a draconian bill, HB 1441, that would require a woman to get written permission from her sexual partner if she wants to have an abortion.
Attempting to justify the despicable legislation Rep. Humphrey told The Intercept that women have no right to bodily autonomy once they are pregnant because they are merely “hosts”:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/02/oklahoma-lawmaker-men-must-approve-abortion-women-hosts/
As Colbert put it, "it's either an overreach by the Alabama gop or some pretty intense viral marketing for the new season of Handmaid's tale.
But wait, there's more.
The Missouri House has voted to approve some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and because it's Missouri, the process somehow managed to include a Republican lawmaker defending the bill by talking about, sigh, "consensual rape."
[…]
It was on the issue of exceptions for rape victims that Hovis, a retired Cape Girardeau police lieutenant first elected to office in 2017, took his stand. He pointed out that "most of the rapes" that he saw in law enforcement didn't involve "gentlemen jumping out of bushes."
"Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes," he continued, "which were all terrible, but I'd sit in court when juries would struggle with those situations, where it was a 'he-said-she-said,' which was unfortunate if it really happened."
Having suggested that rape is often no big deal — because hey, if it didn't happen at gunpoint, it's a real struggle for a jury to know what to do — Hovis finally seemed to find his point, which appeared to be that that rape victims would still have plenty of time, after the rape, to decide whether to get an abortion
https://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2019/05/17/missouri-lawmaker-cites-consensual-rapes-as-house-passes-abortion-bill
also this
https://rewire.news/article/2019/05/17/science-fiction-behind-ohio-reps-ban-insurance-ectopic-pregnancy/
it goes hand in hand with 'co-parenting rights for rapists ' . Cause …..something, reason, god, bullshit, and such.
well at least he understands that the dears actually believe they have a right to their bodies.
also hosts get pregnant and men have nothing to do with it until the host is pregnant and then the host needs permission from the man.
They used to call that shit slavery.
Rep. Humphrey told The Intercept that women have no right to bodily autonomy once they are pregnant because they are merely “hosts”:
That phrase "once they are pregnant" is redundant in context, said context being Rep. Humphrey's fucked-up opinions.
i know i know germans don't have a sense of humor, and they always only shout and the language is hard and what not….but
https://twitter.com/dw_sports/status/1128306663226843137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fcda%2Fen%2Fgermanys-women-we-dont-have-balls-but-we-know-how-to-use-them%2Fa-48776813
quote: we don't need balls, we have ponytails (actually Horsetails but then english:) ) .
is funny.
Some subtleties are always lost in translation. Good ad!
Who said Germans don't have a sense of humour?
If you're looking for someone without a humorous bone in her body, and lacking even a rudimentary sense of the ridiculous, you can't go past this thoroughly Anglo, non-German, fool (unfunny fool)….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGlagIOgcE
you are one boring shit stirrer aren't you?
Sorry, I should have made it clear that some Germans do lack a sense of humour. You're a case in point.
no, you just looked for a reason to again post one of your pointless video clips.
it has nothing do to with what i posted, and it is so far removed from anything that really it is just your typical posting a shit video so that you can post a shit video.
and when it comes to you and your shit videos i am just bored and bored, and bored, and bored, and bored.
no, you just looked for a reason to again post one of your pointless video clips.
"Pointless"? You didn't get the point? Frankly, I'm not surprised.
it has nothing do to with what i posted,
In fact, it has everything to do with what you posted. In a fit of self-deprecation, you repeated the stupid falsehood that Germans "don't have a sense of humour." I helpfully steered you to an example of someone—a non-German— completely lacking any sense of humour, or absurdity, or even increasingly—it's been clear for more than two years now—any grasp of reality.
and it is so far removed from anything that really it is just your typical posting a shit video so that you can post a shit video.
???? You really can't understand that clip? Really?
and when it comes to you and your shit videos i am just bored and bored, and bored, and bored, and bored.
There are German writers I admire tremendously: Mann, Sebald, Roth. Your embarrassing and awkwardly phrased rants are not quite in their company, I'm sorry to say. Perhaps you should read a bit more, think a bit more, see if you can pick up a few stylistic tips from some of your compatriots who can actually write.
Fuck me, you asserted something I agree with! Jimmy Dore is indeed completely lacking in humour or even any grasp of reality.
I feel a bout of introprobation coming on.
You're a funny guy, Andre. Sharp as ….. oh, Sabine?
That sounds pretty serious, Andre.
It'll pass quickly. I hope.
It is gut-wrenching when it goes on for too long. Some sufferers are never the same again after a severe and long bout.
Laughter really helps alleviate the symptoms. The mozzie is doing sterling work supplying that.
And there's no warning when the impacted matter flares up to cause a fresh attack.
It's extremely serious. See, Andre is afflicted by these Russian bots, controlled by those Russian masterminds who control Trump, and …. hell, you know the rest. It's what Rachel Maddow says.
Thoughts and prayers, Andre. That evil Putin, darn him.
When somebody talks of Russian masterminds I always think of chess. Maybe one of my hypnotherapy sessions went wrong.
Hi Sabine It might have been one of my videos that you didn't like. Sorry. But I put them in as changes when the tone is too dark or it seems we need some light relief. They are just a break in between bouts of seriousness, or indeed slapstick occasionally.
I have no idea what you talk about.
Seriously. I actually don't watch tv, listen to the radio generally because it is full of shit and nothing much else.
I usually scroll by Morrisey as i don't see why i should read stuff that i don't listen or watch.
and when Morrisey posts a video i don't expect humor nor slapstick as generally he/she is about outrage and i can't be bothered.
So really i have no idea what you talk about. Sorry.
Well I did wonder about the video reference which seemed very strongly negative.
and when it comes to you and your shit videos i am just bored and bored, and bored, and bored, and bored.
And i thought it might be some of mine you were thinking of. But not. So I'll forget about it. Sorry to have confused you.
Sorry to have confused you.
You're a real gentleman, Mr Shark. But rest assured: unser guter freund Sabine has been confused and bewildered for a good two and a half years now. Sie kann dich nicht dafür verantwortlich machen.
Germans have a great sense of humour! Usually very dry and dark, but very funny.
Yep. I used to love one NDR programme in the mid-90s, can't remember what is was called now – everything absolutely deadpan, no clues you were supposed to find it funny, fuck it was good. Morrissey just lacks the self-awareness to recognise bigotry when he's indulging in it.
Sorry Milt, you've got the wrong end of the shoe here. It's our friend Sabine that's running down Germans, not me. I stuck up for them, having appreciated their music, literature, art, cinema, food, beer and, yes, their sense of humour for as long as I can remember.
Shit I shared a flat with one German in Toronto and he was the most "wooden "person with absolutely no detectable chararter at all.
was he from hamburg?
that would explain a lot.
Harrumph. Hamburg was full of highly entertaining loose units when I lived there. Maybe it's become more spiessig in the last 20 years?
nope, but they are special. Usually very formal, quite uptight until they know you. I guess its the cold and the rain.
Compare Bavarians and Hamburg'ers and its like English and Italians. Bavarians being the Italians. 🙂
but yeah, the northern humor is something to behold. I lived there for a while and it was a good time.
Does that include Israel?
The Trump administration has taken its war on abortion worldwide, cutting off all funding to any overseas organisation or clinic that will not agree to a complete ban on even discussing it.
The Mexico City policy, dubbed the “global gag” by its critics, denies US federal funds to any organisation involved in providing abortion services overseas or counselling women about them. It was instituted by the then US president Ronald Reagan and has been revoked by every Democrat and reinstated by every Republican president since.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/17/trump-takes-war-on-abortion-worldwide-as-policy-cuts-off-funds
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/112826745/parliaments-lone-protester-will-be-on-its-lawn-until-a-climate-emergency-is-declared
Cool guy. Follow him on https://www.instagram.com/thathumbleman/
“For the past three days, Ollie Langridge has sat on the lawn of Parliament, sitting on a bolster pillow wrapped in plastic, and holding a sign calling on the Government to declare a climate change emergency.
Langridge is a self-employed father of six, living in Thorndon with no political affiliation or ties to climate change advocacy groups – just a man worried about the future he's leaving for his children.
"I just see myself as a normal guy that doesn't know what to do and this is the best thing I could think of.”
DUM BRITONS
Exhibit 4: Kirsty Wark
Is there a stupider person in Britain than Kirsty Wark?
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2019/05/eurovision-2019-madonnas-total.html
DUM BRITONS is compiled by Hector Stoop, for Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Collect ALL the Dum Britons….
1 Michael Gove; 2 Chris Leslie; 3 Sir Mark Thatcher.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/dum-britons-exhibit-3-sir-mark-thatcher.html
Not all Germans lack a sense of humour, and not all Fox News hosts lack a heart and brain. Case in point: Geraldo Rivera
Poor old Dan Bongino is as bewildered and nasty as any of our own NewstalkZzzzzB hosts, however.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2019/05/16/bongerinos-how-americans-talk-about-palestine/
Same old? same old from the Mozz, Zzzzzzz
Sleepy ol suburb with not much to do.. zzzz
heh
https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1129443052815360000
'Murica threatens to shoot down commercial airliners in the Arabian Gulf.
https://twitter.com/AJENews/status/1129657916116672513
So the US is officially a rogue state.
Arresting the last 4 peace activists in the Venezuelan Embassy in DC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8d_AXYRVsw&ab_channel=News2Share
they have been a roque state for a long time now.