Open mike 19/09/2024
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6:00 am, September 19th, 2024 - 49 comments
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- A very healthy distrust of how this Government is handling health across the board is needed…
And alongside that, is the ultimate question for the public, and indeed Opposition Parties trying to appeal for enough of the public to support a change from this heinous direction of travel being imposed on us: how much of the damage here can even be stopped in time? Let us ...5 hours ago - Hang up on him David, just stop
There is a story I want to tell, but I'm not going to begin with it because it would be too abrupt. I'll start by telling you that I'm a big fan of the way Nicola Toki conveys her message. And Nicola Toki is a big fan of the way Jane ...9 hours ago - Tax the rich!
We already know that the rich people aren't paying their fair share. But it turns out its worse than that: we're a tax-haven! Our rich people pay lower taxes here than in any comparable country: Well-off New Zealanders are paying less tax than their peers in nine similar OECD ...10 hours ago - Worse and worse
Cancer Minister Casey Costello is in trouble again over her secret, magically appearing tobacco policy document. The Ombudsman has already found that she acted contrary to law in refusing requests for it; now she has been referred to the Chief Archivist over a possible breach of the Public Records Act ...11 hours ago
- NZ’s lack of a capital gains tax means the richest here pay vastly less than elsewhere
The lack of a capital gains tax means the richest Kiwis are sitting pretty compared to taxpayers overseas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 19:New Zealand’s richest ...16 hours ago - Verrall to Levy: “Health NZ NDAs are North Korean – Get rid of it.”
Open article. Note the video of the Health Select Committee excerpts starts at 1:22 In watching the Health Select Committee yesterday, it became clear to me why Margie Apa remains Health NZ CEO.During Levy’s testimony, Apa sat like a rock next to her boss. She nodded supportively, scribbled notes to ...16 hours ago - The Show Must Go On
Empty spaces, what are we living for?Abandoned places, I guess we know the score, on and onDoes anybody know what we are looking for?Another hero, another mindless crimeBehind the curtain, in the pantomimeHold the lineDoes anybody want to take it anymore?The show must go onSongwriters: Brian May / Freddie Mercury ...17 hours ago - Managing on-street parking for local benefit
This guest post by Malcolm McCracken originally appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible, and is republished here by kind permission. The case for Parking Benefit Districts: managing on-street parking for local benefit Parking is often the centre of debate in our cities; particularly on-street car parks, who gets ...18 hours ago - Doubling down?
This is a re-post from And Then There's Physics I wrote a post a little while ago commenting on a Sabine Hossenfelder video suggesting that she was now worried about climate change because the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) could be much higher than most estimates have suggested. I wasn’t too taken with Sabine’s arguments, and there were others ...19 hours ago - Too much haste & waste in Simeon Brown’s need for speed
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong story short, the Government’s myopia of only choosing transport policies that reduce travel times means we’re missing out on the health benefits of more cycling and walking, along with the health cost savings from fewer accidents, less pollution and mentally healthier ways of getting ...19 hours ago
- What seemed so simple is now so complex
The Health NZ rescue that seemed so simple back in July was presented to a Select Committee yesterday as a complex challenge that could take some years to sort out. In July, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Health NZ was on track to record a deficit of $1.4 billion for ...21 hours ago
- The utterances of Shane Jones
Let us consider the utterances of Shane Jones.Let us consider the derogatory terms of abuseNow is not the time for Green Wombles, it's black and white decision making.We will stand with the energy industry and ensure they are not monstered by Green Termites nibbling away at our economic capital.The Green ...1 day ago - Ukrainian militia receives defective shipment of pagers that just send and receive messages
There’s been a major setback for one Ukrainian-backed militia on the Russian border, after the group ordered a large shipment of pagers to use as improvised explosive devices. The plan was to litter the pagers throughout abandoned homes and buildings in hopes of wounding Russian soldiers. But upon arrival of ...1 day ago - A constitutional shitshow
Last month, we learned that the government was half-arsing its anti-gang legislation, adding a significant, pre-planned, BORA-abusing amendment at the committee stage, avoiding all the usual scrutiny processes. But it gets worse. Because having done it once, they're now planning to recall the bill in order to add another such ...1 day ago
- Political Round Up
Note: An earlier version of this article noted Levy was a “party time Health NZ commissioner” - this has been updated - forgive my Freudian slip.Dr Lester Levy is charging $320,000 a year to be a part time Health NZ commissioner. Rachel Thomas reports that Levy is still teaching 2 ...2 days ago - Postcard from Sydney: Southwest and City Metro extension
This is a guest post from Sydney reader Nik Clement After 2 years in Auckland I moved back to Sydney just over a year ago. While in Auckland, I went to the opening of Puhinui station and used it a fair bit, living in Manukau Central and being able ...2 days ago
- Tolling revolt brewing in National heartland
Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, September 18:Locals gathered in Woodville last night to protest at the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s decision to toll the new road linking the Manawatu and Hawkes Bay, saying ...2 days ago - The doom spiral
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In his last post, Zeke discussed incredible warmth of 2023 and 2024 and its implications for future warming. A few readers looked at it and freaked out: This is terrifying and This update really put me in a ...2 days ago
- Government directs Te Puni Kōkiri to conduct Māori Language Week in English
The coalition government has issued a directive to Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development, instructing them that – in the interests of clear communication – they are to conduct this year’s Māori Language Week primarily or exclusively in English. The directive is in line with the Government’s policy ...2 days ago - Government celebrates fact that New Zealand’s healthcare is so good people are queuing up for it a...
At yesterday’s post-cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, flanked by his Health Minister Shane Reti and someone we can’t independently verify was a real sign language interpreter, announced that he had some positive news for the country. “Alright team, I’m just going to hand over to uh, Dr. Shane, ...2 days ago - Heartwarming: Thoughtful driver uses indicator to tell you what they’ve just done
It’s 4:10pm in the morning, and you’re in the middle lane heading north on the great southern motorway of our nation’s capital, Auckland. There are no cars directly in front of you, but quite a few in the lane to your left. Suddenly, without warning, a black ute enters your ...2 days ago - NPC teams will now be allowed to actually use the Ranfurly Shield in play
Following decades of controversy, the governing body of New Zealand rugby, New Zealand Rugby, has ruled that the team currently holding the Ranfurly Shield may once again use it in play during the National Provincial Championship (NPC). The ruling restores the utility of a prize that for many years was ...2 days ago - Climbing out of the hamster wheel
I arrived home with a head full of fresh ideas about mindfulness and curbing impulsive aspects in my character.On the second night home I grabbed a piece of ginger and began swiftly slicing it on our industrial strength mandolin, the one I have learned through painful experience to treat with ...2 days ago - More Notes From Stinky Town
Good morning, folks. Another wee note from a chilly Rotorua morning that looks much clearer than yesterday. As I write, the pink glow in the east is slowly growing, and soon, the palest of blue skies should become a bit more royal.A couple of people mentioned yesterday that I should ...3 days ago - Make it make sense: why axe valuable local projects?
Last week, Matt looked at how the government wants to pour a huge chunk of civic infrastructure funding for a generation into one mega-road up North, at huge cost and huge opportunity cost. A smaller but no less important feature of the National Land Transport Plan devised by Minister of Transport ...3 days ago
- Driving blind at higher speeds
An open letter by experts about plans to raise speed limits warns the “tragic consequence will be more New Zealanders losing their lives or suffering severe injury, along with a substantial burden on the nation's healthcare and rehabilitation services”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s ...3 days ago - 2024’s unusually persistent warmth
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink My inaugural post on The Climate Brink 18 months ago looked at the year 2024, and found that it was likely to be the warmest year on record on the back of a (than forecast) El Nino event. I suggested “there is a real chance ...3 days ago
- National plan for 2000 more Kiwis a year in prison
Open for allYesterday, Luxon congratulated his government on a job well done with emergency housing numbers, but advocates have been saying it‘s likely many are on the streets and sleeping in cars.Q&A featured some of the folks this weekend - homeless and in cars. Yes.The government’s also confirmed they stopped ...3 days ago
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Hi,On most days I try to go on a walk through nature to clear my head from the horrors of life. Because as much as I like people, I also think it’s incredibly important to get very far away from them. To be reminded that there are also birds, lizards, ...3 days ago - Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Politicians need to lift their game
Declining trust in New Zealand politicians should be a warning to them to lift their game. Results from the New Zealand Election Study for the 2023 election show that the level of trust in politicians has once again declined. Perhaps it is not surprising that the results, shared as part ...3 days ago - Police say they won’t respond to bomb threats anymore as ‘it’s never anything’
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says that New Zealand’s police force will no longer respond to bomb threats, in an attempt to cut costs and redirect police resources to less boring activities. Coster said that threat response and bomb disposal was a “fairly obvious” area for downsizing, as bomb threats are ...3 days ago - A dysfunctional watchdog
The reality of any right depends on how well it is enforced. But as The Post points out this morning, our right to official information isn't being enforced very well at all: More than a quarter of complaints about access to official information languish for more than a year, ...3 days ago
- Climate Change: The threat of a good example
Since taking office, the climate-denier National government has gutted agricultural emissions pricing, ended the clean car discount, repealed water quality standards which would have reduced agricultural emissions, gutted the clean car standard, killed the GIDI scheme, and reversed efforts to reduce pollution subsidies in the ETS - basically every significant ...3 days ago
- Vegas Baby
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I am part of a new team running in the Entrust election in October. Entrust is a community electricity trust representing a significant part of Auckland, set up to serve the community. It is governed by five trustees are elected every three years in an election the trust itself oversees. ...4 days ago
- London Bridge is falling down
In the UK, London is the latest of council groups to signal potential bankruptcy.That’s after Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city, went bankrupt in June, resulting in reduced sanitation services, libraries cut, and dimmed streetlights.Some in the city described things as “Dickens” like.Please, Sir, Can I have some more?For families with ...4 days ago - Govt may kick elderly out of hospitals
The Government is considering how to shunt elderly people out of hospitals, and also how to cut their access to other support. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, ...4 days ago - Getting the nephs off the couch
The so-called “Prince of the Provinces”, Shane Jones, went home last Friday. Perhaps not quite literally home, more like 20 kilometres down the road from his house on the outskirts of Kerikeri. With its airport, its rapidly growing (mostly retired) population, and a commercial centre with all the big retail ...4 days ago
- De moralibus orcorum: Sargon of Akkad, Rings of Power, Evil, and George R.R. Martin
I have noted before that The Rings of Power has attracted its unfortunate share of culture war obsessives. Essentially, for a certain type of individual, railing on about the Wokery of Modern Media is a means of making themselves a online livelihood. Clicks and views and advertising revenue, and all ...4 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #37
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- Salvation For Us All
Yesterday, I ruminated about the effects of being a political follower.And, within politics, David Seymour was smart enough on Friday to divert attention from “race blind” policies [what about gender blind I thought - thinking of maternity wards] and cutting school lunches by throwing meat to the media. Teachers were ...5 days ago - A warm embrace
Far, far away from here lives our King. Some of his subjects can be quite the forelock tuggers, but plenty of us are not like that, and why don't I wheel out my favourite old story once more about Kiwi soldiers in the North African desert?Field Marshal Montgomery takes offence ...5 days ago - Literal clowns are running the place, we must put a timeout on this stupidity… right Aotearoa?
These people are inept on every level. They’re inept to the detriment of our internal politics, cohesion and increasingly our international reputation. And they are reveling in the fact they are getting away with it. We cannot even have “respectful debate” with a government that clearly rejects the very ...5 days ago - Fact brief – Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint?
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- Judge Not.
5 days ago - Managed Democracy: Letting The People Decide, But Only When They Can Be Relied Upon To Give the Righ...
Uh-uh! Not So Fast, Citizens! The power to initiate systemic change remains where it has always been in New Zealand’s representative democracy – in Parliament. To order a binding referendum, the House of Representatives must first to be persuaded that, on the question proposed, sharing its decision-making power with the people ...5 days ago
- Looking For Labour’s Vital Signs.
Flatlining: With no evidence of a genuine policy disruptor at work in Labour’s ranks, New Zealand’s wealthiest citizens can sleep easy.PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN has walked a picket-line. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has threatened “price-gauging” grocery retailers with price control. The Democratic Party’s 2024 platform situates it well to the left of Sir ...5 days ago
- Forty Years Of Remembering To Forget.
The Beginning of the End: Rogernomics became the short-hand descriptor for all the radical changes that swept away New Zealand’s social-democratic economy and society between 1984 and 1990. In the bitterest of ironies, those changes were introduced by the very same party which had entrenched New Zealand social-democracy 50 years earlier. ...5 days ago
- Kōrero Mai – Speak to Me.
Good morning all you lovely people. 🙂I woke up this morning, and it felt a bit like the last day of school. You might recall from earlier in the week that I’m heading home to Rotorua to see an old friend who doesn’t have much time. A sad journey, but ...6 days ago - Winning ways
6 days ago - 48 seconds on a plan that would reverberate for a million years
Despite fears that Trump presidency would be disastrous for progress on climate change, the topic barely rated a mention in the Presidential debate. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey ...6 days ago
- Using blunt instruments and magical thinking to ignore evidence of harm
The abrupt cancellations and suspensions of Government spending also caused private sector hiring, spending, and investment to freeze up for the first six months of the year. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThis week we learned:The new National/ACT/NZ First Coalition Government ignored advice from Treasury that it didn’t have to ...6 days ago - Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power Episode 5 (Seaso...
Another week of The Rings of Power, season two, and another confirmation that things are definitely coming together for the show. The fifth Episode of season one represented the nadir of the series. Now? Amid the firmer footing of 2024, Episode Five represents further a further step towards excellent Tolkien ...6 days ago - In Open Seas; A Book
The background to In Open Seas: How the New Zealand Labour Government Went Wrong:2017-2023Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand, published in 2020, proved more successful than either I or the publisher (VUP, now Te Herenga Waka University Press) expected. I had expected that it would ...6 days ago - The Hoon around the week to Sept 13
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest climate science on rising temperatures and the climate implications of the US Presidential elections; and special guests Janet ...6 days ago
- Do or do not. There is no try
1. Upon receiving evidence that school lunches were doing a marvellous job of improving outcomes for students, David Seymour did what?a. Declared we need much more of this sort of good news and poured extra resources and funding into them b. Emailed Atlas network to ask what to do next c. Cut ...6 days ago - Dangerous ground
The Waitangi Tribunal has reported back on National's proposed changes to gut the Marine and Coastal Area Act and steal the foreshore and seabed for its greedy fishing-industry donors, and declared it to be another huge violation of ti Tiriti: The Waitangi Tribunal has found government changes to the ...6 days ago
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In 2016, the then-National government signed the Paris Agreement, committing Aotearoa to a 30 (later 50) percent reduction in emissions by 2030. When questioned about how they intended to meet that target with their complete absence of effective climate policy, they made a lot of noise about how it was ...6 days ago
- Treasury warned Govt lower debt limits meant less ‘productivity-enhancing investment’
7 days ago - Is the Media Complicit?
This is a long read. Open to all.SYNOPSIS: Traditional media is at a cross roads. There is a need for those in the media landscape, as it stands, to earn enough to stay afloat, but also come across as balanced and neutral to keep its audiences.In America, NYT’s liberal leaning ...7 days ago - Black Friday
It's Black Friday, the end of the weekYou take my hand and hold it gently up against your cheekIt's all in my head, it's all in my mindI see the darkness where you see the lightSong by Tom OdellFriday the 13th, don’t be afraid.No, really, don’t. Everything has felt a ...7 days ago - Weekly Roundup 13-September-2024
Ooh, Friday the thirteenth. Spooky! Is that why certain zombie ideas have been stalking the landscape this week, like the Mayor’s brainwave for a motorway bridge from Kauri Point to Point Chev? Read on and find out. This roundup, like all our coverage, is brought to you by the Greater ...7 days ago
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Open access notables Early knowledge but delays in climate actions: An ecocide case against both transnational oil corporations and national governments, Hauser et al., Environmental Science & Policy: Cast within the wide context of investigating the collusion at play between powerful political-economic actors and decision-makers as monopolists and debates about ‘the modern ...1 week ago
- What it is
I liked what Kieran McAnulty had to say about the Treaty Principles bill this morning so much I've written it down and copied it out for you. He was saying that rather than let this piece of ordure spend six months in Select Committee, the Prime Minister could stop making such ...1 week ago - A government-funded hate campaign
Cabinet discussed National's constitutionally and historically illiterate "Treaty Principles Bill" this week, and decided to push on with it. The bill will apparently receive a full six month select committee process - unlike practically every other policy this government has pushed, and despite the fact that if the government is ...1 week ago
- How Substack works to take (some) craziness out of America’s elections
I spoke with Substack co-founder yesterday, just before the Trump-Harris debate, about how Substack is doing its thing during the US elections. He talks in particular about how Substack’s focus on paid subscriptions rather than ads has made political debate on the platform calmer, simpler, deeper and more satisfying ...1 week ago
- Kamala Harris Did Something Unthinkable
1 week ago - Kamala Harris Did Something Unthinkable
1 week ago
- Kamala Harris Did Something Unthinkable
1 week ago
- David Seymour is such a loser
For paid subscribersNot content with siphoning off $230,000,000 of taxpayers money for his hobby projects - and telling everyone his passion is education and early childcare - an intersection painfully coincidental to the interests of wealthy private families like Sean Plunkett’s1 backers, the Wright Family, Seymour is back in the ...1 week ago - Cross-party consensus: there’s no pipeline without good faith
There’s been a lot of talk recently about a cross-party agreement to develop a pipeline for infrastructure, including transport. Last month, outgoing CRL boss Sean Sweeney talked about the importance of securing an enduring infrastructure programme. He outlined the high costs of the relentless political flip-flopping of priorities, which drives ...1 week ago
- Voters love this climate policy they’ve never heard of
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The Inflation Reduction Act is the Biden administration’s signature climate law and the largest U.S. government investment in reducing climate pollution to date. Among climate advocates, the policy is well-known and celebrated, but beyond that, only a minority of Americans ...1 week ago
- ACC wants to administer inflation at more than double the RBNZ’s target rate
ACC levies are set to rise at more than double the inflation rate targeted by the RBNZ. Photo: Lynn GrievesonKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 12:The state-owned monopoly for accident insurance wants ...1 week ago - Harris vs Trump
1 week ago - Treaty Bill “a political stunt”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appears to have given ACT Leader David Seymour more than he has been admitting in the proposals to go forward with a Treaty Principles Bill.All along, Luxon has maintained that the Government is proceeding with the Bill to honour the coalition agreement.But that is quite specific.It ...1 week ago
- Economic decline further cause for tax transformation
Today’s GDP figures combined with the injustice of our tax system will mean more pain for our lowest-income households while those at the top remain relatively unscathed. ...13 hours ago - Release: No growth under National, just cuts
The National Government’s decisions have hindered, not helped the economy. ...14 hours ago - Govt must act to avoid the worst of NIWA’s climate projections
New climate projections from NIWA underscore how urgently climate action is needed. ...1 day ago
- Release: More job losses as Government fails on manufacturing
The Government is failing the manufacturing sector with no plan for its future. ...1 day ago
- Tāmaki-Makaurau MP Urges Immediate Support for Families Impacted by Mill Closure
Te Pāti Māori Member of Parliament for Tāmaki Makaurau is urging a full wraparound of services to intervene quickly with families affected by today's announced closure of the Penrose Mill. Seventy-five people are set to lose their jobs right on the eve of Christmas. "I want to extend my thoughts ...2 days ago
- Release: Sentencing package misses the mark by a mile
Sentencing policy announced by Minister Paul Goldsmith today is anything but new, merely window dressing to make up for backwards violent crime statistics under the National Government. ...3 days ago
- Release: Seymour’s Ministry of Double Standards
David Seymour doesn’t stick to his own standards of good regulation despite having a multimillion-dollar vanity ministry set up to do so. ...3 days ago
- Release: Labour Leader to travel to UK
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins will travel to the United Kingdom this week to attend the annual UK Labour Party conference in Liverpool and meet with members of the new Labour Government. ...3 days ago
- Govt Warned – Increasing Snapper Quota Breaches Fisheries Settlement
An imminent decision to increase the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for snapper would be a direct violation of the first-ever Treaty Settlement and inevitably breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi, says Te Pāti Māori. Te Ohu Kaimoana has sought a High Court declaration to prevent the Minister of Oceans and ...3 days ago
- Govt attacks workers’ rights once again
Today’s announcement from the Minister of Workplace Relations emphasises how deep in the pocket of big business this Government really is. ...4 days ago
- Release: Māori business not a priority for this Govt
Scrapping the Progressive Procurement programme designed to support and grow Māori businesses is a missed opportunity. ...4 days ago
- Release: March 15 inquiry grants cut by Government
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has cut grants helping overseas family of victims to attend the next phase of the Coronial Inquiry into the 15 March 2019 Christchurch Masjidain Attack. ...4 days ago
- Minister of Injustice seeks to Entrench largest land confiscation in History
The Waitangi Tribunal has released an Urgent Report on the Government’s proposed amendments to the Takutai Moana Act 2011. The report calls out Paul Goldsmith’s proposal for what it is: a “gross breach of the Treaty” and an “illegitimate exercise of kāwanatanga”. The Tribunal is recommending the Crown step down ...6 days ago
- Takutai Moana changes another assault on Te Tiriti
The Government must abandon its Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act interventions after the Waitangi Tribunal found it was committing gross breaches of the Treaty. ...6 days ago
- Greens call on Govt to leave Te Reo in schools alone
As Te Wiki o te Reo Māori approaches, the Government is considering deprioritising teaching Te Reo Māori in our schools. ...6 days ago
- Govt cannot ignore racism
The Government’s directive to the public service to ignore race is nothing more than a dog whistle and distraction from the structural racism we need to address. ...7 days ago
- Release: Lemauga Lydia Sosene to take medical leave
Labour’s Mangere MP Lemauga Lydia Sosene has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will shortly take medical leave. ...7 days ago
- Potential intelligence sharing with Israel must be investigated
Concerns have been raised that our spy arrangements may mean that intelligence is being shared between Aotearoa and Israel. An urgent inquiry must be launched in response to this. ...1 week ago
- Release: Charter schools undermine our education system
The Government is taking a wrecking ball to our public education system by reinstating charter schools. ...1 week ago
- Youngest MP to travel to Canada to accept Politician of the Year Award
Aotearoa’s Youngest Member of Parliament, and Te Pāti Māori MP, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, will travel to Montreal to accept the One Young World Politician of the Year Award next week. The One Young World Politician of the Year Award was created in 2018 to recognise the most promising young politicians between ...1 week ago
- Greens celebrate huge step forward for ADHD community
The Greens welcome today’s long-coming announcement by Pharmac of consultation to remove the special authority renewal criteria for methylphenidate, dexamfetamine and modafinil and to fund lisdexamfetamine. ...1 week ago
- Release: Millions to be spent dividing NZ for no reason
The National Party is wasting millions of dollars allowing David Seymour’s Treaty Principals Bill to be drafted and go to Select Committee. ...1 week ago
- Release: New Zealanders departing our shores at a record rate
The Migration figures released by Stats NZ today show National is continuing to drive Kiwis away from New Zealand in record numbers. ...1 week ago
- Te Tai Tokerau MP Slams Govt Overreach in Scrapping Māori Wards
Mema Paremata for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, has reflected on the decisions made by the councils of the North amidst the government’s push to remove Māori Wards and weaken mana whenua representation. “Actions taken by the Kaipara District Council to remove Māori Wards are the embodiment of the eradication ...1 week ago
- Govt already seeking advice on Treaty referendum
On one hand, the Prime Minister has assured Aotearoa that his party will not support the Treaty Principles Bill beyond first reading, but on the other, his Government has already sought advice on holding a referendum on our founding document. ...1 week ago
- Release: Aged care will be worse off if redesign rushed
New Zealanders needing aged care support and the people who care for them will be worse off if the Government pushes through a flawed and rushed redesign of dementia and aged care. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt fails hundreds of workers as mills close
Labour is devastated at news hundreds of workers are set to lose their jobs following the closure of Winstone Pulp mills. ...1 week ago
- Job losses from mill closures consequence of Govt inaction
Hundreds of jobs lost as a result of pulp mill closures in the Ruapehu District are a consequence of government inaction in addressing the shortfalls of our electricity network. ...1 week ago
- Ngarewa-Packer devastated for Ruapehu following WPI closure
Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru is devastated for the Ruapehu community following today’s decision to close two Winstone Pulp mills. “My heart goes out to all the workers, their whānau, and the wider Ruapehu community affected by the closure of Winstone Pulp International,” said Ngarewa-Packer. ...1 week ago
- Release: Cabinet should stop the Treaty Principles Bill
National Party Ministers have a majority in Cabinet and can stop David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, which even the Prime Minister has described as “divisive and unhelpful.” ...1 week ago
- Release: Staff gagged to keep fast track list secret
The National Government is so determined to hide the list of potential projects that will avoid environmental scrutiny it has gagged Ministry for the Environment staff from talking about it. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour challenges Te Whatu Ora gag orders
Labour has complained to the Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission about the high number of non-disclosure agreements that have effectively gagged staff at Te Whatu Ora Health NZ from talking about anything relating to their work. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call on Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned after letter from Christian leaders
The Green Party is once again urging the Prime Minister to abandon the Treaty Principles Bill as a letter from more than 400 Christian leaders calls for the proposed legislation to be dropped. ...2 weeks ago
- Sign the petition: Keep military-style firearms off our streets
Help us tell the Government that reintroducing military-style firearms should not be up for debate. ...2 weeks ago
- Vast majority of councils support Māori wards
Councils across the country have now decided where they stand regarding Māori wards, with a resounding majority in favour of keeping them in what is a significant setback for the Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Government on the wrong side of Māori wards
The National-led government has been given a clear message from the local government sector, as almost all councils reject the Government’s bid to treat Māori wards different to other wards. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki
The Labour Party congratulates Kuīni Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki on being crowned as the eighth Te Ariki Nui – head of Te Kiingitanga. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party welcomes new Maaori Kuiini
The Green Party welcomes the coronation of the new Maaori Kuiini, Te Arikinui Nga Wai Hono i te Po, today in Turangawaewae. ...2 weeks ago
- ECE teachers deserve better than this Government
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NZ headed for a Triple Dip Recession – well this is what happens when you give massive Tax Cuts to the Wealthy and the Average Joe gets F**k All, I work in the retail fresh fruit and vegetable trade and your Average Joe does not have any surplus cash to put fresh fruit and vegetables on the table after they have paid the rent. Re Tax Cuts I get an extra $15.00 per week on a salary of $50k, not enough to put much extra fruit and vegetables on the table. Meanwhile our PM Christopher Luxton gets an additional $18k per annum, equivalent to $346.00 per week if I am correct. It ain't Rocket Science why we have poverty in NZ and the lower socio-economic groups are struggling. This poverty is also a factor driving Crime here in NZ, however most of the Poly's here in NZ have their heads in the sand like Ostrich's.
Not only $18K extra, but he can continue to take off mortgage interest payments of any investment properties he owns off his tax. With a property investment portfolio of $7mi, that's quite a bit of moolah.
Luxon only has 6 pads now sold one in Onehunga.
The poor bugger how will he survive?
Speaking of "when you give massive Tax Cuts to the Wealthy", the gummint saw fit to give "charity" status to billion dollar corporations, which means they don't pay a cent in tax. Two of these corporations are Ngai Tahu and Tainui. We also see these corporations extorting other business that need to re-apply for resource consent and have to pay the Taniwha tens of millions to billions of dollars for the privilege. Guess who ultimately pays for these excesses? Those that can least afford it as the costs are passed on, not absorbed by the business being extorted.
Solar powered devices?
When even the solar powered light in our garden could be a weapon, should we be worried?
How big a threat to us are our battery powered devices?
Can my laptop be hacked to make the lithium battery overheat, and burn my house down?
In a war between China and the US will our devices be on the front line?
Is anyone in the media investigating this problem?
If Hezbollah or Hamas had launched these attacks every resource available to our society would be invested in giving us the answer.
Afterall we already know how dangerous these devices can be, even with out evil intent.
With unintended spontaneous cockpit fires and E bike explosions.
Is this how World War III will start?
Thanks to the Israeli Butchers exploding pagers and two way radios, a huge issue has appeared for the tech and device industry and by obvious implication for users and the authorities.
International supply lines are involved in the production of devices, lines that can now be seen able to be breached for nefarious purposes. Will air carriers get the shakes about mobiles on board? Will any number of businesses look sideways at mobiles on their premises…will mobile users (say Palestine solidarity supporters) themselves become wary…
After todays attacks it doesn't seem like it's sabotage of equipment. It's just too many different types of devices – it's just seems like too wide-ranging a supply line to infiltrate.
In my opinion, it is most likely that they have changed some firmware code controlling battery controllers.
Battery controllers for rechargeable batteries are finicky things, pretty complex code lumps of code to control charging, discharging, and temperature responses. It isn’t that hard to remove safeguards if you read the programming manuals. The last manual I read on a battery controller for Lithium ion batteries was about 200 pages of dense settings.
I have blown up one Lithium ion batteries by accident during charging when I have been writing settings for a battery controller.
I don’t imagine that it is that hard to force a fast discharge causing a high temperatures. Probably targeting one of the families of battery controllers firmware. And modern batteries have extremely high energy densities.
All that would be required is to write code to talk to a controller, get it installed in a pager over the radio as a update, auto-install it, and then provide a online trigger to initiate it.
Odds that the culprits inserted modified batteries into the supply chain?
What do we know about Wednesday’s walkie-talkie explosions?
The walkie-talkies that exploded had new batteries that had arrived in a recent shipment and had been distributed to a narrower range of Hezbollah members than the pagers, people familiar with the matter said. Hezbollah members said some of the explosions on Wednesday were stronger than those in the pager attack. Lebanon’s health ministry said nine people were killed and more than 300 were wounded in Wednesday’s explosions.
https://archive.li/TMLv6 (wsj)
This would make any and every device a potential bomb.
.
B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary. Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/middleeast/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L04.QuJ0.eV6zIo_wjZrR&smid=url-share
Urrgh. The worst possible case. Explode and that will thermally overload the battery which would also burn of explode. I'd guess that they would trigger through a signal from the radio device passed to the battery controller. You'd just have to hook up one of the many extra lines to the controller.
The batteries are also hermetically sealed against leakage from the battery cells. So you wouldn't get a explosive smell trace. The seal is also designed to expand because that is what lithium batteries do as they deteriorate – that would help to make the explosion more violent from containment.
My brain kind of switches off as soon as I read a manual but I do like how people have skills like this. Not for what happened here, but it's interesting.
War is just very sad all round and unbearable in many regards. We are the 1% when compared to so many countries and I wish we spent more time appreciating it – rather than being gaslit into poverty and culture wars by some in power.
If I were in Lebanon I wouldn't want to be carrying around a cellphone in my pocket right now or getting near a television or computer.
I feel that the Israelis have something else planned and I'm sure it won't be pleasant.
But it does raise the question: what else can be tampered with to cause injury and destruction? and what if Putin and Kim Jung Un got hold of the means to do this?
I am sure it is a preemptive strike, either to disrupt Hazbollah plans if they were about to do something, or to prepare for an Israeli invasion, as Ad points out below.
Either way, looking beyond the nastiness of it, it is a very effective strategy in either scenario.
Will there be any international investigation into how and where these supply lines were breached?
Will any effort be made to identify the operatives who carried out this so called "sensitive operation"?
Will anyone be held accountable?
Like so many other Zionist atrocities before it, will Israel's impunity see this latest atrocity being deliberately and systematically swept under the carpet?
Will the news cycle move on?|
Despite the dire implications of this new form of warfare will this shocking event go uninvestigated?
Where were, and how were, the supply line breaches made?
Is it possible for Russia to call on its Chinese ally to help it launch a similar attack against Ukraine?
Well, American top security people are very tight lipped at the moment as to implicating Israel, I’m just following media channel reports so far, but it appears a batch of Taiwanese pagers were sent to a possibly bogus Hungarian company set up by Mossad to do the explosive installs.
Will anyone be held accountable–yes, but not the Israeli butchers!
I'm reading it as a an Israeli controlled front did the deal to supply devices manufactured and sold by a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting, which had a license to use the Taiwanese brand on the pagers.
More on the BAC Consulting story.
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/18/g-s1-23547/tracking-the-exploding-pagers-used-in-attack-on-hezbollah
Thanks for the informative link Matiri.
To add to the mystery here's another story from a former Israeli operative with the 'secret Israeli weapons division’ describing the preparation:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350421367/secrets-mossads-fearsome-reputation-revealed-ex-israeli-intelligence-officers
Fascinating article.
Fascinating?
Sounds, a little more like misdirection to me.
If this wasn't a misdirection, which country's customs service is this anonymous spook alluding to?
Hungary? Lebanon?
Were the customs officers allegedly involved, bribed or coerced by Mosad, and no other customs employees in their dempartment noticed?
The other alternative, the customs officers were ordered to divert these pagers by their government employer?
And nobody in the government bureaucracy's chain of command, who may have been a little bit uncomfortable at this order, got wind of this operation and leaked it?
Really?
Smells like bullshit to me.
Just a little too convenient, and a way bit far fetched.
We have one name: Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono
From the link supplied by Matiri:
$320?
Fancy that. A not for profit electronics company that only makes pagers.
Can we expect that a certain 'Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono', is being sought by interpol for questioning, with her description at every airport?
Probably not.
Israel's impunity makes sure that Western authorities including police and security forces will look the other way.
Who is Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono?
An A4 sheet on a glass door, sounds the definition of a front company.
British-educated businesswoman Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono (Facebook)
From the Independent 12 hours ago:
I consider that a handful of ex Mossad and related agency officers know a damn sight more than you or I how Mossad operates. That was the intent of the item I linked to. Nothing more nor less.
You on the other hand have chosen to interpret it as a pro-Mossad piece rather than an educative and factual piece of writing which was both informative and revealing.
I am sure they do. I am also pretty sure that they are very unlikely to tell us.how they operate.
No, I just think that their version is unlikely, And I said why.
I think it is unlikely that Customs officers were bribed or coerced to divert a shipment of pagers without it being noticed by someone else. Even more so, if they were ordered to do so by their superiors.
I might add that more and more and evidence is leading back to BAC, rather than border Customs of some unamed country.
However, I would be interested to look at anythiing Mossad comes up with, that they wan to to add, to back up their vierson, that it was Customs.
Which Customs? Of which Country? would be a good start.
The next 9/11 is coming.
Its not a matter of if.
Its just a matter of when.
… 23 years and counting.
Maybe the anti-terror security architecture we all rely on is working.
23 years?
Hitler festered about the Jews from 1915 and took action 25 years later in 1940.
There are now millions of Muslim Hitlers out there planning revenge.
The Jews became the most hated people in the world before the Nazis
with the support of all Western European Christian lowered the boom.
6 million Jews were not so smart between 1940 and 1944.
The Jews are on the way to becoming the most hated people in the world again.
Its gonna be 1940-1944 deja Jew all over again."
6 Muslims with two knives brought down the entire USA defence system. at 9/11.
Who will protects the millions of USA travellers when they are over seas?
In the last month a couple of old blokes have beaten the USA security system
just abut knocking out Trump.
Another big one is coming.
Will be great viewing
You are on thin ice with that kind of comment…
Oh really? What hateful things to say. No place for nazi fans here !
Disgusting comment
Koina, plenty of vids on youtube on Treblinka, Auschwitz, Ravensbruck etc for your "great viewing" . Your post is abhorrent.
Is that it … is it a curious bird … more questions than answers …
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=koina+meaning+maori
9/11 was to provoke the PNAC to action, because they needed regime change to create the vacuum for Islamic State (but Iran backed Shia rule Iraq and Syria now – what a defeat for both al Qaeda and PNAC).
Today the divide is between those who want Israeli permanent rule of the WB and defeat of Israel. Will both lose, if there is a two state peace?
Some good news for Aucklanders with an electricity account, the Entrust dividend of $350 is being paid over the next few days. If you receive it by direct credit, it may be in your bank a/c now. Some people have it credited to their electricity a/c.
Entrust dividend: Who’s in line for the $350 payout – NZ Herald
We also note that the Entrust Election is always held at the same time the dividend is paid out.
An Entrust I want would use the dividend to buy back the 25% of shares in the NZ sharemarket …
… then hand the while thing as a CCO to Auckland Council. And ACC rates would go down.
I want them to spend more $$$ undergrounding power lines instead of carving out big "V for Vector" cuts in the middle of the street trees to maintain the required clearances for the power lines. It is a tragedy that they did not piggyback off the other works being done on Hendon Ave with the new housing developments there. The street trees are great and an important part of the streetscape.
Pity about the network having $12m foregone infrastructure investment for ticket clippers who do absolutely zero toward the security of electricity supply get reelected.
It looks to me that the exploding communication devices amongst Hezbollah operatives is a preemptive strike.
From what I have read, Hezbollah received the pagers about five months ago. Perhaps the Israelis set this up so they could disrupt Hezbollah's plans if they were about to do something major.
This type of action is within the Israeli MO. For example in the Six Day War the Israelis undertook a preemptive strike against the Egyption air force and took out most of their planes befoe they even got off the ground.
You don't make the move of blinding your enemy unless you're preparing for war.
Israel's 98th Division is now on the border, and is believed to include thousands of troops, including paratrooper infantry units and artillery and elite commando forces specially trained for operations behind enemy lines.
7 October will be the 1-year anniversary. Under 3 weeks from now.
Blinding the enemy in the middle of the fight would be an ace up the sleeve, too.
Israel decided to blow up the pager devices carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday out of concern its secret operation might have been discovered by the group, three U.S. officials told Axios.
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/18/hezbollah-pager-explosions-israel-suspicions
The USA does not want Israel to start a war. And Hezbollah knows starting one when Lebanese hospitals are over-run would place its forces at risk.
The Israelis got intell a year before the Oct 7 attack. Those above said it was too ambitious for Hamas to realise. 6 months before they got intell of Hamas training for the attack. Again it was dismissed.
The biggest intelligence and IDF failure in their history.
The attack came 50 years after 1973 (Yom Kippur war – they knew an attack was coming – but the Americans said if they acted first they would not be supplied with arms).
An attack 50 years later fits the black September timing of attacks at "harvest time" because of the nature of the Jewish calendar (Sept/Oct harvest month – and there is historic significance to Oct 7 as well, in 2023 the first sabbath day after sukkoth – ending on the Friday Oct 6).
For mine, this is a pre-empting of any Hezbollah attack on Oct 7 2024, or Sukkoth later in the month.
Bravado 101, a warning that any war will involve stuff Iran has not warned them about. Iran itself, not being a safe place for pro Hamas Arabs to visit.
As our local fan of all things Rainbow (Dec 2016 UNSC decision hate speech against McCully) puts it.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/
They get tech to spy on their citizens.
People sometimes forget that many Arabs (and Turks) see Iran as having a hegemon ambition, exploiting Israel to pose as leader of the Moslem world. The Arab League (and Turkey) position is now a two state outcome, Iran is the outlier.
There got to be more than what matches the eye here. Hamas have apparently had them for 5 months but it stretches the imagination that no one has changed a battery or tried to fix one and gone ‘ hang on, what’s this ‘ , 5 months and thousands of devices.. makes no sense. Also the sabotaging of household battery walls is just shitfuckery of the highest order.
It was probably code that sets the settings on the battery controller chip (or any power controller chip). Those things come in families and they get used in a wide variety of devices. Almost every device that stores and releases power uses controller chips or boards to make sure that the power in charged or discharged at a safe rate and that their energy store doesn’t overheat.
In lithium-ion type batteries, every one that you plug into a device has a battery controller of a particular type or type family inside the battery casing. It carries the settings allowing safe charging, discharging, and temperatures. You can typically reprogram those settings from code in the device itself.
It is usual to update code on most remote devices via comms. I’ve written a lot of code using internet, wifi, bluetooth, satellite, radio, ethernet, usb, jtag and just straight serial to update devices. Pretty hard to find a nasty even if you actually have the source code and compile it yourself. That is why remote updates or installation need a secure review / build / supply chain.
It’s certainly a massive security breach for Hezbullah and Hamas, I could imagine a handful of devices being swapped for ones with the explosive device, but numbers are in the thousands. Now today we are hearing about other communications devices exploding.
If Israel were to invade southern Lebanon, It would make sense for the Israelis to control the pagers and communication equipment remotely, while intercepting messages and feeding misinformation, not destroying them.
This is something different, it may be part of an internal civil war within Hezbollah and other Palestinian organisations. There will be other regional players involved, not including the US, China, Russia or the UK.
We all know that the US backs Israel, and takes the flak accordingly.
So how is it that Iran gets a free pass. They’re the ones supporting, and arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. With Iran’s avowed intent to wipe Israel off the face of the map, is it surprising that Israel takes the fight to their proxies?
"We all know that the US backs Israel, and takes the flak accordingly."
What does that "flak" look like.
I venture the US gets off scot free.
We are told Auckland real estate values are now at 4 year low, falling below $1 million.
No worries for real estate agents though, cos of the way their commission structure operates.