Elon Musk had demanded that Twitter employees sign on to his new "hardcore" culture. Apparently, many are replying with their feet.
Queenie Wong, Sean Keane
Nov. 17, 2022 9:16 p.m. PT
…..Musk tweeted a meme with Twitter's logo on a grave stone.
The remaining 3,500 or so employees who were left at Twitter after thousands were laid off had a choice to make at the end of the day on Nov. 17: Remain under Musk's plan for an intense "Twitter 2.0" or leave with three months of severance pay.
Facebook, Amazon and Twitter are all in trouble anyway. (Not that I ever gave a shit about them – most social media is a mental illness factory.)
Either Musk does nothing and Twitter dies slowly but surely, or he attempts radical surgery. If Twitter dies anyway he will have done spent a lot of his money doing us all a public service (and a whole lot of skilled technical people will be released onto the US economy to do something else hopefully more useful) – or if something 2.0 arises from the chaos everyone will be calling him a genius yet again.
Save it now I recon. Quick re-write from scratch by some brash newish Twitter coder and its all sorted, back to full steam on Twitter. Not sure if Musk has experience with this approach, but how hard could it be anyway.
The real cost of money has appreciated to expose overvalued assets,zombie companies (and assets) and overpriced workers in the tech and service economies.
There will also be exposure to over reliance of tech,and the replacement of tax revenues will be difficult in say California,or worse in Ireland (where half the corporate tax comes from 10 companies)
I recon the people who answer yes to that question, "can actually write software" have an exaggerated sense of their own abilities. Musk's way of saying, maximum 6 months experience required to be a Senior Twitter Coder, I guess.
Andrew Gunn on page B5 in the Christchurch Press satirises Luxon, boot camps and a 'hard core of young, anti-social, born-to-rule chinless wonders" who are at risk of being 'parachuted into a safe seat for life.'
"They see no consequences whatsoever and believe they can get away with whatever they want".
I always get a bit sad that they have to put the label satire on these columns. We have become such literalists. It pains me to think that the appreciation of all these fabulous uses of language/figures of speech are incapable of being read and recognised for what they are.
There's a wee side swipe in the Gunn piece at the cares to which you allude. He even satirises the legal need for alleging allegations.
' "… to your sharers of inappropriate sexual images to your leakers of sensitive information for political purposes. All alleged, of course." (Thanks for that- Editorial legal team)'
first speaker (position = trans rights are not up for debate and it was wrong to invite Kathleen Stock to be part of the debate) just made the proposition that because we have the right to say something doesn't mean we should say it. Not sure they intended this, but it came across as: you have the right to say something, but it's wrong to say it.
Don't think he's made an argument to support that.
summarises the point of contention as definition of what is a man/woman, but refuses to debate this because that's debating trans people.
Instead they're going to look at Stock's actions eg tweets and support.
Starting with the LGB Alliance, they appear to make a number of negative assertions about LGBA (some of which are almost certainly not true and/or a misrepresentation of the LGBA position), and then asserts that Stock's involvement with the organisation is akin to having the same positions.
LGBA do 'truly reprehensible things', therefore support cannot be defensible. They don't provide evidence for the assertion of truly reprehensible. I don't know if this is normal in formal debate.
someone calls a point of order, that Kaldicott is not making a propositional case.
Kaldicott clarifies that he is supporting the motion (the right to offend), and is making the case for how this should be used and how Stock has not done this in an appropriate manner.
Stock's twitter and support for JK Rowling. Again, makes assertions but no real argument other than that he finds both women's positions abhorrent.
As a non-binary person, Kaldicott feels that living in the UK and looking at MSM it's impossible not to be miserable, it's impossible to listen to the voices on this topic and not be miserable, and so on. Stock and others disgust Kaldicott.
Ok, but why did they need 10 mins to the same basic things over and over?
Chair makes a statement that the speakers must address the proposition (this house believes in the right to offend), rather than focusing on other speakers.
second speaker, opposition to motion, Teodor Grama. Protest outside, agrees with protestors, it's wrong that the topic is being debated at the CU, but believes the debate is going to happen anyway so better to be involved.
His main argument is more interesting – that his side of the debate has the ability for nuance whereas the affirming side of 'right to offend' doesn't (the latter is a position that all offense is acceptable as free speech).
He uses Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses as an example of speech that many find offensive, but the offense is outweighed by the social good of the book.
His side wants to say some offense serves a social good, but there are other offenses that are unacceptable. He names homophobia, transphobia, racism and all 'other' forms of prejudice. He doesn't say who gets to decide. I will note that he didn't name misogyny (pertinent because prejudice against women is increasingly being made invisible as a social justice issue despite half the human population being female, and because lots of progressive men are complicit in this).
talking now about why the right to offend "is not a mere legal prohibition on state censorship". Why are we having this debate? Because various commentators have expressed offensive views in various forms. Names Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and JK Rowling, as three examples (spot the difference 🙄).
They haven't complained about not being legally allowed to speak, they've complained about cancel culture and deplatforming (says the young white man privileged enough to attend Cambridge University). He calls this backlash and social sanction, and goes on to make the assertion that the affirmative side, in supporting the right to offend is also saying that society should accept all speech without intervention, and that it is "illegitimate to restrict the proliferation of such views through any social means we have available, protest or otherwise"
This is clearly a nonsense. While the libertarian side of the free speech debate might be closer to that, gender critical feminists are clearly not saying that at all. Which makes me think he doesn't know what the GC views are (hence him grouping JKR with JP and Shapiro). Maybe he has no class analysis either and can't recognise left/right wing political positions and how they change meaning of GC.
In other words, he is saying that the right to offend must give 'fair hearing' to racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, homophobia (the omission of misogyny is glaring now). He's trying to put the opposition view into a box of his making, rather than understanding it in its own terms and then critiquing it.
This is particularly relevant because Kathleen Stock's starting position as a philosopher is that we should be able to argue our opponent's position in a way that is fair to them, before we criticise it.
It's a feature of the gender/sex wars that genderists generally can't or won't do that. This is true of the first two speakers (who are genderists).
He now talks about why the affirmative can't meaningfully make a case for their position. The necessity of giving all views a fair hearing without censure means that individuals cannot respond in the free market of idea based on their own views, desires, values etc. It's an infringement on autonomy for people to listen to what they want and respond.
We do place restrictions eg on politicians during elections, and this serves a good social purpose.
Now he argues that offensive views generate more harm than social good (seems unaware of the irony of his views being offensive and thus being harmful, lol). He uses a broad category here of marginalised, minority people, vulnerable groups, who are denied free expression because of fear of ridicule and attacks. That the offensive views (which he hasn't defined) dehumanise them and infringe on their dignity).
Sidebar here. Penny just dropped. I think he's talking about trans people being the worst oppressed people,
… bombarded from all sides with all sorts of rhetoric and discourse that dehumanises them, that makes them feel horrible, that makes them feel incapable of engaging properly
but he's also as a white man talking about how white men are now treated by society. I doubt this is conscious, but it does explain why so many blokes feel much more affinity with trans people than they do with women. It also explains the refusal to understand or take seriously left wing GCF views. It's the patriarchy in action, make women the baddies. He goes on to say that people who make others feel this way should be deplatformed. Feminists eh, the ones who insist that feminism is politics for females.
Speakers from the floor. First one is another white dude arguing against women's rights to single sex spaces 🙄 Using an argument that opposition to gender mixed toilets comes from the right.
Speaker abstaining, another white man saying the debate has been a waste of his time because the speakers have failed to engage with points of information on comments they have made that are controversial and worthy of discussion. Sniping comments have been made about the guest speaker (Stock) and the first speaker basically ran an attack on her. The topic is worthy of debate, there are historical and contemporary reasons why, and it should be treated with more respect. Man standing up and arguing for debate rather than rhetoric.
Speaker opposing the motion, young black man, hard to hear as he didn't have a mike, but seems to be saying that the power that a person has matters in terms of the impact of what they say. Talking about something at the university, one of the departments and professors talking about race intelligence? Offensive words are made to harm, the house should oppose the right to offend.
Just realised that the background noise is the protest outside (using sound to disrupt people speaking is a common tactic of the genderist side).
Kathleen Stock was clearly nervous and you could hear the loud groups of protesters outside desperate to disrupt proceedings. But kudos to her for standing up and speaking out on behalf of a basic democratic right — to say things that some find heretical or offensive. She has bigger cojones than most of us.
Prof. Arif Ahmed from Cambridge (from about 1:14:00) was very eloquent and made his points graciously about public discourse in a democracy — and how the "right not to be offended" is always used by the dominant group in society to shut down dissent e.g. the governments of China or Iran. His closing quotes:
“Take away the right to say ‘fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘fuck the government.”
― Lenny Bruce
"This freedom of speech and these human rights were paid for by generations long ago, and they were paid for in courage and in blood. They weren't designed to make us comfortable; they were designed to keep us free."
― Baroness Chakrabarti
Kathleen Stock excellent and she looked rattled. Understandably so. Must have brought back the harrassment (masked men on campas calling to get rid of Stock).
Kathleen Stock, philosopher, former professor, author, lesbian (wouldn't normally mention that but the whole lesbians should have sex with trans identified males is the context).
She starts by saying that she's not going to respond to the things that have been said about her, although she obviously disagrees. It's fine for people to say what they want to say. She's going to respond to the debate question: is there a right to offend?
Newshub: Jacinda was hugely complimented at APEC in Thailand yesterday…
Jacinda Ardern is in Thailand for the APEC meeting, heading straight to a CEO Summit. There, she was given an embarrassment of compliments in an introduction to her speech.
Ardern was described as: "The most effective leader on the planet… the greatest thinker of the COVID era."
"I almost felt slightly embarrassed by the generosity of it," she said afterwards.
"A prophet in her own country", at least for some.
Meanwhile Luxon is now being satirised at home for doughnut politics where you u-turn on a u-turn of a u-turn, his ridiculous re-invention of militaristic boot-camp intervention and National's inability to see the effects on poor candidate selections by the interventions of powerful ruling elites.
Labour party seems set to sacrifice principles for convenience once again. Which would be surprising, except it really isn't.
I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to. But did participate in discussion around the proposed Incitement to Discrimination law changes the other year. So it seemed appropriate to mention this development here, rather than my usual online discussion places. At least until I get some of the disgust I feel for those craven poll chasers out of my system. I was liking being a swing voter, now I have much fewer voting options (never ACT, certainly not Luxon Nats, and now with Labour stacking gutlessness upon gutlessness – I am left with few choices next year).
Proposed last year in response to the March 15 terror attack and the Royal Commission report that followed, the reforms were due to expand protections to women, religious groups and rainbow and disabled communities, among others. As it stands, only hate speech on the basis of race, skin colour or national origin is prohibited…
However, Newsroom understands, the scope of the reforms is likely to be severely curtailed. Justice Minister Kiri Allan has discussed only adding religion to the list of protected grounds and making no further changes to hate speech law…
A related programme to reform hate crimes, which are offences like assault or vandalism committed with a hateful motive, may be stalled, Newsroom also understands. Hate crime reforms were another recommendation from the Royal Commission, which the Government accepted in principle in 2020.
The transphobia cultivated here is an ongoing shame. And another pissweak backdown from Labour to please who? The fearful old people who would vote for Winston or the Nats anyway.
Please stop trolling. If you want to have a conversation on TS about transphobia, then have the conversation rather than making vague digs that can’t be responded to meaningfully.
Merely wanted to make sure a commenter who said "I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to" did not see the only response being a denial of their reality. Not expecting your small group to change their minds.
[that’s not the problem, it’s how you did it. I see from your response that you won’t stop trolling, so take a week off. When you come back you are welcome to talk about transphobia, and/or affirm other people’s realities, but you cannot troll here. If you want an explanation of the difference, then ask – weka]
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said?
The first irony is that this is the very reason the Labour Party has failed to make much progress with legislation. All the nuance, such as tightening up on the definition of what speech is in breech counts for nought, because of a fear that woke/PC activists will make groundless complaints to police to de-platform others.
The second irony is that G-CF see themselves as victims of the same de-platforming
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said?
Please explain. Because no, I don't know what you are meaning. Use your words. It might be obvious to you, it’s not to me (I was just modding as I do based on a pattern of behaviour of someone who should know better and I didn’t want to waste any more of my time on it. Something that is also consistent with most mods here).
The first irony is that this is the very reason the Labour Party has failed to make much progress with legislation. All the nuance, such as tightening up on the definition of what speech is in breech counts for nought, because of a fear that woke/PC activists will make groundless complaints to police to de-platform others.
Again, don't know which legislation you are referring to. But as with Three Waters, there are a range of reasons for opposition. People who try and box it into for/progressive and against/bigots do the country a massive disservice.
The second irony is that GCF see themselves as victims of the same de-platforming
and again, what is your point? Women's Place UK did have an event dropped by Eventbrite, allegedly because of EB's hateful speech policy. We will see if that stands, because the legal precedents have been established in UK law already that gender critical views are protected under law.
Sigh .. the being required to repeat myself to explain …
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said? Which was
Merely wanted to make sure a commenter who said "I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to" did not see the only response being a denial of their reality.
Onto
Again, don't know which legislation you are referring to.
Sigh – it's obviously that under discussion from 6 on. The long proposed change to legislation on hate speech (as to what it covers and in what way.
As for what was the point of my observation about those who practice de-platforming while complaining about it themselves – I will refer to the post of roblogic below still on 6
People who believe in trans theology/gender theory are perfectly within their rights to do so. Trying to evangelise others and force them into a belief system that they find idiotic (to put it politely) is what gets their backs up.
OTOH those who hold to trans theology/gender theory as a vital part of their identity have a right to feel aggrieved or offended when their religious beliefs are mocked. But that goes for any culture. It feels bad when Māori culture is sidelined or suppressed, or when my own religion is trashed in the news.
Doesn't give me a right to cancel the free speech of others or to force them to submit to my beliefs.
Sigh .. the being required to repeat myself to explain …
You can imagine how I feel being expected to engage with someone @ing me on a Saturday over a moderation when they can’t even be bothered to explain themselves.
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said? Which was
Merely wanted to make sure a commenter who said “I don’t comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to” did not see the only response being a denial of their reality.
So not everything Sacha said, but this one specific thing. What have I confirmed? You still haven’t explained. I’ll guess. You think that Sacha shouldn’t have been banned because he’s needed here to make sure that Temp doesn’t feel something? Why should someone who is obviously trolling be given allowances when others aren’t?
Again, don’t know which legislation you are referring to.
Sigh – it’s obviously that under discussion from 6 on. The long proposed change to legislation on hate speech (as to what it covers and in what way.
Again, it’s not obvious. I wasn’t reading the thread for content, I was reading it to moderate. They’re two different things. Sometimes moderators use the comment flow in the back end and we don’t see the whole conversation in context, we just see someone with a pattern of behaviour trolling and we intervene.
As for what was the point of my observation about those who practice de-platforming while complaining about it themselves – I will refer to the post of roblogic below still on 6
People who believe in trans theology/gender theory are perfectly within their rights to do so. Trying to evangelise others and force them into a belief system that they find idiotic (to put it politely) is what gets their backs up.
OTOH those who hold to trans theology/gender theory as a vital part of their identity have a right to feel aggrieved or offended when their religious beliefs are mocked. But that goes for any culture. It feels bad when Māori culture is sidelined or suppressed, or when my own religion is trashed in the news.
Doesn’t give me a right to cancel the free speech of others or to force them to submit to my beliefs.
Still no idea what you are on about. I know what Rob means. I don’t know what you mean. Nothing worthwhile bothering with as apparently you can’t be arsed explaining. Maybe I’ll guess again. You think the moderating trolls is a suppression of free speech and I shouldn’t have done it. Who the fuck knows though.
We are here for the robust debate. Stop expecting people to mind read, make your argument or go away, because I don’t want to be wasting my time.
I did not see the support for Temp Orary view (first post and latter in his response to others) as trolling (but supportive to a greater diversity of contributor and involvement on "gender ID" debates). And otherwise his posts on 6 were in relation to the hate speech law itself and added to the debate.
thanks, now I understand. Can you please say that up front next time?
I didn’t moderate Sacha for his political content. He was moderated for his pattern of behaviours trolling.
I’m fine with people offering support and solidarity to Temp (or anyone). What is not ok is the sly digs all the way through. Intentional digs imo. If Sacha wanted to talk about the issues, he should have talked about the issues. If he wanted to support Temp, he can do that without the digs. The digs are the trolling, not the desire to offer support. I think trans people here do deserve more support. However this is a political blog, and there are substantial politics involved, ones that Sacha is largely in denial about and refuses to engage with. That’s his choice, but he can’t have it both ways.
I also won’t countenance left wing men making derogatory trolling comments about feminists. That’s just bullshit on a site like this. Sacha is well aware of just how difficult it is for feminists to write and comment here, so I can only take his support for Temp and digs at feminists and him picking a very particular side. He can do this of course, but he can’t troll from that. He has a history of this now, and it’s time it stopped. He can either front up and engage in the debate or he can keep his digs to himself.
In repsonse to Weka re SUFW not really left wing. They did a survery of themselves and most of them were Green/Labs.
Early on they were accused on not caring about other feminists causes. So they listed annonymously all the causes they had been involved with e.g Sos abortion services in the 1970s, The SB tour, rape crisis. The list is impressive. I am trying to post the link to the page but having some difficulty.
Nope no go, but visit SUFW and click on who we are for interest.
SPC "G-CF see themselves as victims of the same deplatforming"
But actually gender critical feminists experienced a significant de platforming, when SUFW tried to have meetings about the self id gender bill to discuss this legislation in public libraries. They were smeared and mis represented and one by one their meetings were shut down by the libraries.
SUFW then took Palmerston North Library to the High Court and won the right to hold their meeetings. The High Court judges declared SUFW was not a hate group.
In all my years of activism, I have never had this experience before and this was a group of women who are largely feminist, left wing and non denominational.
I apprecaite the Standard every day as a place I can exercise my free speech
I did have a (way too long) comment written yestereve that I decided to put aside unposted. Not least because it might be taken, in part, as criticism of site moderators. I may recycle it from word processor folder next week when Sacha is allowed to participate in the discourse again.
Does their banning expire on next Saturday or Sunday?
There are a number of gender critical women (and some men) on this site, who don't agree with gender ideology or queer theory.
For me not only do I not accept these theories (although I accept the right of people to believe them), I see a lot of harmful things about these ideologies that are not get reported in the NZ media.
Amongst other things
The medicalization for children and young people with a mental disorder known as gender dysphoria. I have grave concerns that young people are being offered affirmative gender care that doesn't question why a young person might be feeling so distressed with their sexed body. Fast tracking kids to puberty blockers and then cross sex hormones rather than providing them with appropriate exploratory therapy to get to the bottom of their distress. Overseas countries such as the UK, France and Finland have rolled back use of PB . Reluctantly NZ Health was forced to change the advice on their website that PB are safe and fully reversible.
I believe in biological reality, that women are a sex class that need and deserve their own protected speaces in as much as they should have women only change rooms, prisons, refuges, accommodation, sporting competitions and scholarships etc.
I feel no shame whatsoever that I am speaking up about this.
Shame is always a tool used by cults. If you do not adhere to the beliefs of the cult. If you question the premises of the cult; in this instance the premise that one can choose ones gender and children should helped to do so with drugs and surgery then you should feel ashamed. Cults will also disfellowship people in other words cancel them and refuse to engage with them.This is very unhealthy and causes much harm. Why not engage and talk to other people and find out what they think and why. This is one of the things I really like about the standard.
What do you think would be the appropriate punishment for a social and colonial construct who refuses to feel shame for not believing in transubstantiation?
100 lashes with leaf lettuce from Luxon’s Bic Mac and mandatory reprogramming in Luxon’s boot camp by having to listen to all his episodes of QT until you feel tears of sorrow, pity, and shame and vote for anything but Labour or Green Party.
People, especially self-righteous ones, are so quick to judge, especially when they miss the meaning of words and misunderstand and/or misinterpret the concepts, analogies, and metaphors used by others with whom they have already decided to disagree
As with many subjective comments rather than rational reasoned debates, judging one’s humour as funny or not is highly subjective. Perhaps it wasn’t humour per se but a means to convey something without making it sound too harsh in order to make it more palatable to those who are less receptive because of the dogmatic walls they have erected/constructed.
The first part of my comment was, of course, about (public) flogging and shaming as a form of punishment and a tool of manipulation. Public shaming is very common in sexual hate speech, as you know. Flogging with word salads is common here too; TS has its own Grand Executioner, who shall not be named right now, and some self-righteous regulars just love it.
I’m happy to expand and elaborate on my comment to demonstrate the underlying politics and political message that involves public shaming and invoking shame and conscience on this political blog to score points rather than to further/foster constructive debate. It may show you that there was actually an awful lot of content packed into that brief ‘inane’ comment of mine, which you happened to miss or ignore. Just say the word
". It may show you that there was actually an awful lot of content packed into that brief ‘inane’ comment of mine, which you happened to miss or ignore. Just say the word "
People who believe in trans theology/gender theory are perfectly within their rights to do so. Trying to evangelise others and force them into a belief system that they find idiotic (to put it politely) is what gets their backs up.
OTOH those who hold to trans theology/gender theory as a vital part of their identity have a right to feel aggrieved or offended when their religious beliefs are mocked. But that goes for any culture. It feels bad when Māori culture is sidelined or suppressed, or when my own religion is trashed in the news.
Doesn't give me a right to cancel the free speech of others or to force them to submit to my beliefs.
Did you really mean 'transubstantiation' in its usual theological meaning:
'the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining'.
or
Transubstantiation is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ"
These are long term uses of language. The trans debate has already cost bio women much in human rights with the lack of guaranteed access to safe spaces. Personally I would be unhappy if the trans debate also claimed a serviceable and specific word to its uses.
NB I support human rights ie no discrimination for transgender people but not at the cost of hard fought for human rights for women.
Or were you meaning it in the context of an Emperors New Clothes or Alice (words mean what I want them to mean).
In which case it is a very clever use.
transubstantiation,,,,,that the anti female trans community says happens to them even without any genital surgery, ie they magically turn to bio females.
I'd be happier though with the use of consubstantiation to represent my idea of what happens. Blood & wine of Christ are represented by wine and water. Trans women look like women but are not women.
Again reinforcing that no-one should be denied human rights or subject to insult by the way they look.
"I support anyone's right to be who they want to be. My question is: to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?"
I would add to that quote, at what stage am i allowed to opt out of participating in someone elses self image as a validation tool, specially when it starts to endanger those like me and removes my rights and the language that i need to advocate for myself and those like me.
Anyone can pretend/believe that an unleavened wafer and a drop of bad wine is the body and the blood of Christ, and anyone should be allowed to not believe that same thing. In the end, it is only an unleavened wafer and a drop of bad wine.
Ditto for people who would like to pretend that they are the other sex. They are not. They can present stereotypically feminine or masculine, but no male has ever given birth and no female has ever inseminated another.
And it will also not happen in the future. These are just basic facts of life. And we should be able to admit these realities, and build on that.
Disclaimer: I lived for nine years in a convent and well, i don't do submission and obedience very well i guess.
Thankfully the school I went to Anglican, prided itself of growing, for want of a better word, stroppy females prepared to question. We led a huge revolt when a headmaster tried to move us from middlebrow Anglican to High Anglican, with all sorts of prayers throughout the day. To do this meant urgent research on all matters theological so we could marshall our arguments. So we were not submissive either.
I would add to that quote, at what stage am i allowed to opt out of participating in someone elses self image as a validation tool, specially when it starts to endanger those like me and removes my rights and the language that i need to advocate for myself and those like me.
No NZ government on our history has advanced the interests of the trans community like this one in both legal protection and directed health expenditure.
What this government needs to work on more is protecting them from physical harm.
The survey on how well NZPolice are dealing with the massively high proportion of violence against trans and binary people will have useful results for Police and for comparing against the last Crime and Victims Survey.
That article demonstrates very little evidence of harm, but rather survey respondents self- perception of harm:
"…including the fear of being discriminated against…"
This is a particular interesting example, worth further discussion:
""We have seen changes, for example if a trans woman is being assaulted by her husband, and he says that's because he's found out she's trans, that will no longer be treated as an excuse," she says."
So, let's go through this:
(NB: Framed as a long-term relationship through the use of husband, implying marriage and previous intimate knowledge, but is relevant in terms of any intimate relationship, including casual sex.)
Domestic assault regardless of identity is treated as such, regardless of the excuses offered by the abuser.
A reaction to finding out your sexual partner is not the sex you thought they were, leads to questions about:
sex by deception;
sexual consent;
and the right to have respected your sexual orientation.
Looking for information regarding this issue from our own advisory rainbow community organisations, it is not fully addressed, while they advocate consent be agreed upon, they also advise that as a transperson you are not compelled to "out yourself" to anyone.
If you engage in a sexual act with someone who you know has a sexual orientation that excludes you as an intimate partner, and know that they perceive you to be another sex, and you not only don't rectify that perception but encourage it – is this either sex by deception, sexual orientation conversion of some type, or both?
The article also tucks in misgendering as a violent act, and uses the actual violence perpetrated on bisexual (report linked to includes lesbians and gays) and extrapolates it to the whole LGBTQ+ community.
"The report also found that 47 percent of bisexual adults are likely to experience crime over a 12-month period compared with 30 percent for the New Zealand average.
Lesbian or gay adults during their lifetime will experience more than double the rate of sexual violence from their partners at 33 percent compared to the New Zealand average of 16 percent."
Thousands of officials were emailed for “transgender awareness week” and told it was “vital that we keep scaremongering and misinformation at bay”, with trans hate crimes up 56 per cent in a year.
The email, marked “official sensitive” and sent this month through the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) diversity and inclusion team, has been leaked to The Telegraph.
In order to “be an active ally”, staff were given a glossary titled “recognising transphobic coded language”, which contained 35 everyday phrases that it claimed were “turning what would be considered overt discrimination into covert behaviour”.
However, the document claims it is a “self-selected label to denote holding anti-trans views, it’s a term used to make anti-trans discrimination sound palatable or a respectable opinion” and warns staff to look out for social media accounts that hold this view.
Also listed is “protect women’s spaces/protecting women and girls”, which it says “relies on equating trans women with being predatory men, to play on unfounded fears and convince people that supporting trans inclusion threatens their safety”.
The ground was lost a long time ago, now they are just making it public for those that thought that there was still a ‘fight’ going on. And all the major parties agree to this, just like they all agree on hate speech laws and the likes.
in the UK that's not true. Case law has now established that GC beliefs are protected against discrimination. It appears where there is push back the genderist stuff falls (seems to be happening with the arresting people for tweets thing too). Public pressure is helping, more people are speaking up.
It will probably take another court case to test HMPPS policy and whether it is legal. These are not minimal gains, they are serious ones. It means that in the UK Judges ultimately get to decide what is fair and reasonable, not MPs.
I can also speak English while having a German conversation with my relatives which always is quite funny as it takes some time to switch of. In essence they speak German, my brain understands it but my answers come in English and i did the same while living in France and visiting home.
But i am an easy learner of languages speaking and reading- but i can't write for the life of me in any language, that really demands effort and literally hurts my brain.
I also dream in German, English and French.
Edit: i do however not translate from German into English or French, i simply speak these languages with the vocabulary i have and am continuously adding new words to hat vocabulary.
Edit to my previous comment re thinking in a foreign language.
While the voice in my head speaks english – i don't consider myself as thinking.
If i were to live in full immersion of Te Reo i would soon enough speak Te Reo. With of course horrible grammar and all that, but i would be able to survive in a place where that would be the only language spoken. If that makes sense to you?
This is it actually, i don't think the language i hear it. Language has a sound, ones the sound becomes familiar the sentences have beginnings and ends, the words suddenly jump out and you can literally see them as individuals. Advertising on telly is great for it as you have the action/product, the written word and the sound. Link the sound to the image of the word and the action / product so easy. My favorite TV show at the time a brilliant music telly production called Taratata with Nagui.
But the best tools for learning a language is a dictionary with phonetic writing in them, which i had for english. Hence why I have some abilities to communicate in the written word.
For your other discussion the word that i would have used -specially in that context would have been Whenua.
It is just us that thought that at least a few may care what happens to the non persons that birthed them, that are their offspring, that are their partners. And that these few may find some spine and guts and heart to fight for these things in their lives.
But i think the ones that will find this hardest to deal with these changes are those with education. The poor among us already know this and in many places live their life without dignity, safety and respect. And other then lip service nothing is paid to their plight. The difference between the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Taliban in England is simple. The one hides their property under a bedsheet for ‘protection’ the other erases every mention of their property in public records, removes the words that used to describe them, and pretends its progressive and good for all. The effects are the same.
And the educated PHD holding and sitting in Parliament Serena Joys of this world will learn it in due time, as will the dears in our political parties that still feel so progressive about their pronouns and daily linguistic incantations to affirm their loyalty to the cause.
I understand why young ones cut of their breast and inject anabolic steroids like it was a saline solution, it is their way out of this misery and hopefully be accorded the privilege of being male and thus granted a chance at a decent life.
We are now effectively back in the times were the word women did not appear in any legal texts, were women were incomplete men in the medical texts and washing hands was not something to expect from a doctor, were women are property to birth , clean and provide sexual services and other free of charge labour, were women are things to own, use and dispose of. And anyone even just daring to to feel conflicted about this shit is a phobe or sorts who hates men in skirts that go spinny.
The day men and some women thought that locking violent males in prison cells with women was progressive was the day women were thrown in the village pond to see if they float whilst tied to a chair.
One question that i have, is transgenderism a religion? And will that fall under the protection of the hate speech laws?
Just when I think it couldn't get worse, this government promises to fast track hate speech legislation.
Many left wing and progressive people will support this because they have cultivated a habit of censure and shaming when challenged by disagreement. Add in a bit of sanctified victimhood, and the expectation of reasoned discussion is no longer necessary.
Who needs it when we all know what is hateful (and unkind)?
Shame, shame on those who might suggest opposing such legislation. Do they have no empathy for those who have a perception of fear?
"A hate crime is an offence perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age.
A hate incident is an act perceived to be motivated by hate for these characteristics, but doesn’t meet the threshold of being considered a crime.
Hate crimes and hate incidents can encompass a broad range of acts, including threatening behaviour, harassment and verbal abuse, online abuse, criminal damage, assault and sexual violence.
Despite our high female murder rate, and non-existent transgender body count (long may it continue) – which protected characteristic from the Human Rights Act (1993) is missing (alongside marital status)? – and which is an inclusion of a characteristic that is not in the same Act?
Three guesses. (Though if you need more than one, don't bother.)
Given this current policy, how do you see this hate legislation shaping up, Sabine?
Shaming us for having lunches is just the beginning. It all starts somewhere and it ends with us not having the right to define us, meet among ourselves and simply be.
the things that we are are to validate others, serve them, seen but never heard.
Which leaves this question -last raised sometime during the 1400 – are we actually human?
of course words can't have meaning …… that would be counteractive to the movement. Words mean what ever those in power mean at the time they state them. Humpty Dumpty is their best friend and inspiration.
A reaction to finding out your sexual partner is not the sex you thought they were, leads to questions about:
sex by deception;
sexual consent;
and the right to have respected your sexual orientation.
Are you arguing that there is no such thing as informed consent to having sex with a transgender person, if this is not known in advance?
Or are you arguing that someone is having their sexual orientation compromised when they sleep someone who is transgender without knowing this in advance?
Sex by deception – lies about background (marital/relationship status, fake dating site profiles) …
"Or are you arguing that someone is having their sexual orientation compromised when they sleep someone who is transgender without knowing this in advance?"
At the very least – if that sexual orientation is known beforehand – there is a degree of disrespect, don't you think? For lesbians and gays the notion that their sexual orientation was due to the fact they just hadn't met the right "man" or "woman" was a battle seemingly won decades ago. How have we returned to this battleground?
(IIRC, sex by deception includes non-disclosure of positive STD status as well.)
There is only one case of successful prosecution of sexual assault in this scenario that I am aware of (in the UK):
The charge was grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard:
"Mikio Filitonga was found guilty by jury in March of a charge of grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard and in the Auckland District Court was sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail yesterday."
I suspect the obligation for disclosure falls under public health regulations:
"Filitonga tested positive for the virus on 27 February 2013.
On 26 July that year he was told of his legal obligations as an HIV positive man by a nurse."
In practice only informed consent as to public health (after instruction of a requirement to inform others of an infection) applies to date.
… the UK case cited is truly outlier (given the person was willing to not see – be blindfolded – and wanted penetrative sex with a male partner), as conviction required belief that the victim did not recognise her best female friend (a lesbian) as the “male” she was dating.
One wonders if long term relationships (between a transgender person and another) could later be posed as having been without informed consent, once they end. Bitter break-ups …
"In practice only informed consent as to public health (after instruction of a requirement to inform others of an infection) applies to date."
That distinction is made in the paper below, which has some other interesting considered scenarios, including some similar to after breakup dissatisfaction.
The UK case is interesting, and is it a scenario that is more likely to occur with young people who are likely to be more compliant and uncertain in sexual relationships, or is it something else – or nothing else, just a one-off?
It appears that the woman convicted was unable to acknowledge her same-sex orientation, so created a persona (NOT gender identity) in order to separate that orientation as a method of dealing with it.
That can be understood.
And the successful mechanics of subterfuge seems like something that may be interpreted as willful blindness.
While that cannot be discounted, it must also be considered that the young woman who was convicted also became intimate friends with the woman who was misled, and would likely have influenced her to accept the conditions of contact and intimacy laid down by her male persona.
So, it was a lengthy, and sustained level of deception which may not be duplicated again.
However, the impact on the woman – who is heterosexual, upon discovering that her sexual partner was a female – was reported as significant. Her response indicates her level of distress.
They make a point about the distinction between informed consent in medicine, as opposed to informed consent in personal intimate relationships (P 14):
2. ‘Informed’ consent to sexual activity
‘Informed consent’ is a concept commonly associated with medical law.
50 Professor Skegg explains, generally: “while competent lawyers have long realised that not all apparent consents are effective in law, the use of the expression ‘informed consent’ does serve to remind all concerned that an uninformed consent may not suffice for a particular legal…purpose.”
51 The Medical Council of New Zealand has described ‘informed consent’ as follows:
52 Informed consent is an interactive process between a doctor and patient where the patient gains an understanding of his or her condition and receives an explanation of the options available including an assessment of the expected risks, side effects, benefits and costs of each option and thus is able to make an informed choice and give their informed consent.
The difficulties in requiring that consent to sexual activity be ‘informed’ in this manner are readily apparent. Sexual relations are not engaged in on a detached doctor-patient type basis with duties of care and disclosure owed by one party to the other. The criminal law would be unworkable in practice if it required human passion and physical intimacy to be preceded by total disclosure or medical-level explanation by each party to the other of the risks, side effects, benefits and costs of that sexual activity.
Nevertheless, a number of cases have said that consent to sexual activity must be “full, voluntary, free and informed”.
53 Whether ‘informed’ consent goes beyond the need for a basic “understanding of the situation” is unclear,54 as the relevant cases show.
"LGB adults are more than twice as likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) and/or sexual violence (68% of bisexual adults and 57% of lesbian or gay adults have experienced IPV and/or sexual violence) compared to the NZ average (29%) based on the NZCVS."
I'd expect this will get more specific now that the categories are easier to self-identify.
"I'd expect this will get more specific now that the categories are easier to self-identify."
Why would that be more specific?
Also, wouldn't there also be potential for loss of accuracy regarding violence statistics in regards to sex and sexual orientation if people can self-identify in and out of statistical groups?
Let's wait and see but my suspicion is less than minor.
Coming up in March next year is the census, and it will be the first to ask everyone about their gender, sexual identity, and whether they have any variations of sex, getting straight to questions on ones':
gender
sexual identity (question only asked of people aged 15 years or older)
variations of sex characteristics (question only asked of people aged 15 years or older).
They can't help but to a better job than last time.
"They can't help but to a better job than last time."
A better job in what respect?
Giving someone an opportunity to declare an identity?
And/or gathering accurate and useful data in terms of identifying effective means to reduce violence?
ie. The gender question is now ambiguous.
Does it refer to sex or gender identity? Even if intended for one or the other, will it be answered consistently? If that cannot be assumed, accuracy is already compromised.
"variations of sex characteristics "
Also self-subjective, so not particularly useful in quantitive analysis.
I do agree that good quality data is necessary, however, I am not reassured it will be achieved.
Sorry, just realised that we've moved onto the census, rather than the surveys initially discussed, in which case the reference to violence is limited.
The rest in regards to accuracy in terms of analysis, and effective use remains.
Do they have a definition of these "variation of sex characteristics" or are they lumping people with Differences or Variations of Sex Development – which are medical conditions (used to be called "Intersex") in with sexuality and/or gender identity? Unfortunately, these 40 or so known syndromes have been weaponised by gender idealogues in an attempt to prove that sex is some sort of spectrum. It provides no such evidence in that those that are fertile – and many are not- produce either sperm or eggs so do not create additional sexes and certainly do not change sex. It is just more idealogical obfuscation which seems to have been swallowed wholesale by lawmakers.
Personally I keep thinking that the recent proliferation of endocrine disruptors from all plastics, pesticides and soy based food sources may well have something to do with all of this.
Endocrine disruption is an interesting area. Since reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, I think that determining if there is an environmental factor is always a question that should be answered.
I do think that around this topic of gender identity other factors come into play, especially taking into account the ever expanding notion of what falls under this umbrella. (eg. Drag Queens ) and the Q+ coterie.
Starting point will be the old-school transsexuals, so distress due to dysphoria will still be a part. But it is a small part now, and nowhere near the whole. (NB. Current gender ideology considers that expecting distress and even a dysphoria/gender incongruence diagnosis is transphobic).
After looking at many sources, including from those who identify as transgender, I think there are a multitude of different routes to self-identification.
Identifying the most common, and the demographic of who travels each path is important.
Despite the collective moniker, the starting points, journeys and destinations are often markedly different.
Yes – I was not suggesting that widespread endocrine disruption was the sole driving factor here – but I get the sense it has been rather overshadowed by the far more visible and noisier cultural debate.
And as an engineer my mind naturally gravitates toward possible root causes.
Among the many disastrous mistakes of the medical community it is the often overlooked DES debacle:
Diethylstilboestrol (DES) was a medication commonly prescribed to prevent miscarriage, between 1946 and 1971 in Australia. If your mother took DES while she was pregnant with you, then you are a DES daughter or DES son. We now know that DES exposure in the womb can cause a range of reproductive changes and fertility problems later in life.
Oestrogen is one of the female sex hormones that regulates the menstrual cycle. DES was a synthetic oestrogen medication, sold under many different brand names.
Doctors and obstetricians commonly prescribed DES to women who had fertility problems or who were at risk of miscarriage, usually as a pill. Sometimes, doctors gave the medication along with vitamin supplements and some women may not have realised they were taking any medications.
Anyone who was exposed to DES needs special healthcare, even if they are not having any obvious health problems.
While DES turned out to be a remarkably powerful disruptor, many of the chemicals listed in my reference in my first comment are rather similar especially Bisphenol A (BPA) – in its estrogen like behaviour:
In the early 1930s, the British biochemist Edward Charles Dodds tested BPA as an artificial estrogen, but found it to be 37,000 times less effective than estradiol. Dodds eventually developed a structurally similar compound,(DES), which was used as a synthetic estrogen drug in women and animals until it was banned due to its risk of causing cancer; the ban on use of DES in humans came in 1971 and in animals, in 1979. BPA was never used as a drug. BPA's ability to mimic the effects of natural estrogen derives from the similarity of phenol groups on both BPA and estradiol, which enable this synthetic molecule to trigger estrogenic pathways in the body. Typically phenol-containing molecules similar to BPA are known to exert weak estrogenic activities, thus it is also considered an endocrine disrupter (ED) and estrogenic chemical.
Xenoestrogens is another category the chemical BPA fits under because of its capability to interrupt the network that regulates the signals which control the reproductive development in humans and animals.
BPA is almost ubiquitous in our environment and while it is mostly chemically bound to other components, small amounts of it inevitably hydrolyse and become biologically available.
All this is subject to some degree of controversy among the specialist community – but frankly I would be very keen to see this issue get more political visibility. There are much wider implications around human fertility than just the trans debate we are having here.
The fertility issue is huge – and one I occasionally spend time on. I think the factors you have listed are unfortunately only two entries in a long list. The DES, I'd come across before. Of interest is the sentence that follows advice on medical vigilance:
There is no evidence that the third generation is affected by DES exposure.
I'd add: as yet.
BPA is a concern, which has led to old school personal preferences for food a drink storage, although it can't fully be avoided.
Small amounts are enough to have significant impacts on the endocrine system.
Recently, are acknowledging long-term health impacts from the contraceptive pill.
The interference of the endocrine system that is labelled affirming healthcare is not informed by robust clinical evidence. That fact should concern everyone regardless of perspective.
transwoman + male = hetero = opposite gender attraction
male – female – hetero= opposite gender attraction
transman + male = gay = same gender attraction
transman + transman = gay -= same gender attraction
male + male = gay = same gender attraction
Glossary:
Transwomen – male presenting as a female
Transman – female presenting as male
male – adult human male – standard edition
female – adult human female – standard edition
Non binary – everyone who can't be bothered really playing the game but wants some of that transcred cause being male/female is so boring and cis. 🙂
You can now fill forms out in which you can be "other".
And thus, the male that got locked into a female prisons for a short stay of 9 years and a few month for going into into a restaurant on a stabbing spree stabbing two and slashing the face of of his ex is a women crime and a women on women crime and everyone will have to pretend to have been assaulted by a 'woman'. She/her and all that stubble and jazz.
I mean if you want to devalue accurate record keeping about the countries population growth, future population growths, about crime, and such that is the way to go.
We might as well be counting sheep and declaring them cows.
I knew about the higher rates of intimate partner violence amongst lesbian couples.
That was one of the surprising findings to come out of the fabulous Dunedin Multidiscliplinary Study. I have searched that study to see what if anything they have found out about transgender people and to date have found nothing. Suspect that is to do with the cohorts age group (pre gender ideology and queer theory taking hold) and also because the cohort is around 1000, just not enough numbers
And don't forget Toko Shane Winter (who demands to be called Ashley) who was convicted for the sadistic torture and murder of a young woman in 2019. The NZ media showered him with female pronouns and called him a woman several times right throughout his trial, conviction and sentencing for this crime. They had become a bit more balanced when it came to reporting his unsuccessful appeal.
The govt spening money on gender affirming care is highly problematic and may lead to some of the situations overseas, for example the gender clinic at the Tavistock Clinic in London. After senior paedeatrian Dr Hillary Cass was half way through her review she ordered the clinic be closed due to safety concerns. A highly unsual move for an NHS trust.
The concerns were around the use of puberty blockers, automatic affirmation of gender identity and the lack of a comprehensive assessment for youngster who most often had significant co-morbidities with their gender dysphoria. The Tavistock is also facing a significant class action taken by families and patients who have been damaged by this approach.
But if you want to sing the praises of this govt for going down this dubious pathway, then don't let me stop you.
Remember that prior to 1990s the rates of transgender people was something like one in thirty thousand. Teen girls where almost unheard of in the early days of the Tavistock clinic. Then around the time of the invention of the smart phone there was an exponential growith in teen girls presenting to gender clinics. Many of them had been exposed to trans information in chat rooms. Social contagian if very common in adolescent girls. We have seen it with girls with anoerexia, bulimia, self harm and now gender dysphoria. The govt in endorsing gender affirming care , is endorsing the wrong approach for these troubled youngsters
"I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to."
As those prone to racism, misogyny and homophobia carve out niches on social media to support their ideas, an easy path is not to engage with that toxicity. Good on you Temp ORary for having the courage to state that you feel you have encountered "suffocating transphobia" here. Hope it's OK to post links in response. Kia kaha.
Dynamics of online hate and misinformation [11 Nov 2021]
Our results show that, coherently with Godwin’s law, online debates tend to degenerate towards increasingly toxic exchanges of views.
LEVEL 1, disagreement – Speech involving disagreement with a particular idea or statement. It seeks to challenge the claims, ideas, and beliefs of the addressee in an offensive and intolerant manner.
LEVEL 2, negative actions and reactions– Direct insult or verbal attack against the one to whom the hate speech and intolerance refer to
LEVEL 3, negative characterization – Speech involving negative non-violent actions related to the group to which it is addressed, followed by stereotyping, belittling, ridicule or public stigmatization.
LEVEL 4,demonizing and dehumanizing – Speech that includes qualifications for the other as the embodiment of a certain evil, inhumanity, and assigning a subhuman status to entire groups in society.
LEVEL 5, incitement to violence – Speech that calls for physical harm and specifies ways of violent behavior.
LEVEL 6, death – Speech that makes explicit calls for killing or physical elimination.
Gay hate speech case in court as review of law announced [31 Oct 2022]
“My view on homo marriage is that the Bible never mentions it so I’m not against them getting married … As long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss,” the pastor said.
Hate speech in Aotearoa New Zealand: Reflecting and resisting
[18 June 2022]
In the month since our paper was released, dangerous speech increased significantly. Violent, vulgar and vicious discourse against public figures, such as the Prime Minister, MPs who are women, academics, journalists, and other senior public officials continues to grow, with increasingly graphic and violent content. Threats of death, rape, and intense violence are now commonplace – and daily – within the domestic online ecologies studied by The Disinformation Project. Such discourses are intertwined with misogyny, queerphobia, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and ableism. These discourses focus on, seek to amplify, and entrench differences, rather than notions of cohesion and shared identity. Instead of focussing on what binds us together, mis- and disinformation producers are increasingly highlighting difference, and the antagonistic negotiation of it.
Is this what you are referring to? – the successful prosecution of Richard Jacobs:
"New Zealand has laws against hate speech but they only apply to discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. The letter of the law is so broad that courts have adopted a much narrower interpretation since it was passed in 1993, meaning only a single successful prosecution for hate speech has occurred in the past 29 years. That case was last year, when Tauranga man Richard Jacobs posted a YouTube video calling for genocide and a race war against Māori."
If it is, I'm going to make an assumption (correct me if I am wrong) that you do not disagree with either the prosecution or the success.
So, is it that you wish that more prosecutions take place?
1. Because many others are calling for genocide on the basis of a protected characteristic?
2. Because the level of genocide is too high a bar for hate speech, and you want that determinator to be something else? What do you propose?
Your links to Canada etc are unexceptional, particularly given that Canada is justifying a lot of atrocities in the name of progression these days. A trial currently is taking place for a nurse in regards to her speech:
Is this Canadian distinction the one you seek to emulate here in NZ?
As for the domestic The Disinformation Project – is it truly possible that there are those on the left that do not recognise The Ministry of Truth when it lands on our shores?
Re the current court case, it will be informative to have written and recorded the police's decision not to prosecute and why, and the judgement:
"Timmins was backing the case of Auckland man Russell Hoban against the attorney-general about a West Auckland pastor’s sermon, posted on Facebook in April 2017, that called for gay people to be shot. Timmins described the pastor as “self-titled” and said the sermon was recorded in the man’s lounge.
“My view on homo marriage is that the Bible never mentions it so I’m not against them getting married … As long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss,” the pastor said.
Given the obvious incitement to violence against those practicing homosexuality (as indicated by a marriage), the police failure to prosecute would seem inexplicable. Might be a next time we will warning case …
Generally most people would oppose threats of violence to individuals or groups of individuals (race, ethnicity, origin and extend that to sex, gender, sexuality, religion).
The question would be around incitement to violence (such violence being a hate crime) and then onto hate itself.
Given that they were successful in prosecuting Richard Jacobs, above, I think it's really important to show how they made that decision.
There is not enough details in the article, that perhaps the published decision will provide.
I suspect the Jacobs case was easily identified as a call for genocide: "calling for genocide and a race war against Māori." whereas the Timmins case was related not to a call for genocide because of homosexuality, but the self-declared pastor's response to the acceptance of gay marriage. A small difference, but it should be clarified if this is the interpretation.
Well i guess these colonial and societal construct are just getting their deserved come uppance being locked up with a male offender who stabbed three people – one of them the ex of the offender who stabbed the colonial and societal construct in the lungs and slashed the face.
Perhaps a "reflective circle" is required – such as the one a young high-school student had to attend when she challenged the presence of a boy in the girls changing room:
"It also claims that the school turned a blind eye to ‘death threats’ made against Blake by the transgender student, who said after the locker room incident ‘I’m going to f***ing kill Blake Allen’.
They are said to have been selective in their discipline, despite suspending Blake for two days for 'misgendering' the student, then ordering her to take part in a 'reflective circle' where she returned.
That saw equity coordinator Jamie Connor and other students attempt to brainwash Blake into seeing the error of her ways, it is alleged. "
Christ! The reflective circle. I happen to be re-reading 1984 at the moment.
Yes let this young woman experience the reflective circle. We must eradicate wrong think!
In my life time it has taken so much work (by other women) to tell women and girls they can trust their instincts and if they speak up they will be heard
According to the Herald today, Winston Peters for the first time ever in his political career, is ruling out working with two parties prior to the election – bold move. (Premium content so have not attached)
Judging by some of the comments on this blog, this could be a clever tactic.
It doesn’t matter if it is ‘premium content’ or not, you should still provide a link for verification for and by others, preferably with a note/warning about it being behind a paywall or subscription-only.
Do you know Alan, is Winston saying he won't go with Labour or the Greens?
Wonder if it was hiding He puapua from him before the last election or Trev tresspassin g him that did it. But actually maybe I am wrong, perhaps he is happy to go with L and G and it is some other party he's ruling out. Opps just seen from the headline its Labour plus???
To double-check whether there was any wriggle room in his position on Labour, he is asked if he is ruling out working with a Jacinda Ardern-led Government.
“Most definitely,” he says and he reflects on his previous two stints in government, first with National and with the fifth Labour Government, which he described as trusted relationships.
“When I shook hands with Jim Bolger and Helen Clark, ask them whether I could be trusted. When I shake someone’s hand, and they deliberately mislead me and my caucus, who are a critical part of a coalition, they don’t get a second chance to do that again.
“I regret that. It’s sad that it has happened but those are the facts and they cannot deny it.
(based on not having read anything paywalled at the Herald)
Not actually true – he has until now ruled out being in a coalition with either ACT and Greens.
Thus campaigning as the centrist partner of either National or Labour (reducing ACT and Greens as support partner of one coalition or the other).
He intends to campaign like he did in 1996, against the government. But in this case rules out forming a coalition afterwards.
The option he proffers is National on the right (taking votes off ACT) and NZ First (taking votes Labour won off National in 2020) in the centre.
In dividing against Labour and MP he is making fear of "He Puapua" (indigenous peoples rights and Treaty partnership concepts) front and centre of a "majoritarian democracy" alliance between National and NZF (nostalgia for the simplicity of the pavlova paradise assimilationist age baby boomers were raised up in – as per the Brexit vote in the UK). Winston is doing a Boris.
In not excluding ACT or Greens, Peters leaves open a competition between them to be the support partner to a National-NZF coalition if that is required.
His technical difficulty – he will struggle to gain as many votes in the centre as he might want/need if he does not rule out a coalition including ACT. And ACT could rule out supporting a National-NZF coalition if they were not included.
Winston Peters for the first time ever in his political career
His language directed at Bolger and National before 1996 was even stronger than his criticism of Ardern. It meant nothing.
But let's face it, we've had this dance many times before, and in the end it comes down to the same old question: do we learn from experience or not? Note the language used: "rule out" … "work with" … To quote Game Of Thrones … "words are wind".
2023 Winston: "I did not say that, you in the media always get it wrong", etc, etc.
When he writes a legally-binding document with affidavit that says "I refuse to be Deputy PM or Foreign Minister or take any role in government offered by Labour even if they offer it and National don't … also, here is my bond of a million dollars which I will forfeit if I break this promise" – then it'll mean something.
Until then, Winston gonna Winston. Fools gonna believe.
I prefer Seymour’s twerking to Winston’s Tango For One, by, for, and with Winston. Winston goes for the sentimental value of nostalgia and glory days of the past that never really were. Trotter will love it.
"We are in this for our policies – not the perks of office. …
Now the voters know New Zealand First will not be in government – by our own choice – they also deserve to know that we intend to serve New Zealanders, as we always have, by keeping the next government honest.
… It involves for my colleagues a real sacrifice, but we willingly make it. For my part, I never took as deputy Prime Minister ministerial cars or a house, so we genuinely don’t care about the baubles of office."
A big shoutout to the Capital Kiwi Project for reaching their conservation milestone of releasing 250 Kiwi onto 23,000 hectares of mostly private land in the Wellington region.
In particular to the landowners of the big Terawhiti block, Kinnoull, Meridian, Mill Creek Farms, Papanui Boomrock, Pikarere, many of which have been in families for generations.
This is a private protected area larger than Abel Tasman National Park. This kind of project takes years and years to do, so also well done to all the Trustees in particular previous Mayor Kerry Prendergast.
Much of the red colour outside main cities is old people on fixed incomes selling the house in the city, banking the cash, moving somewhere cheap, and just living off the basics to eke it out.
First extreme cold event of the season starts in US with Buffalo hit by snow lake effect and 4 foot falls,due to ridging event in Alaska.
NE US will be susceptible to energy outages (as a number of other loc) during prolonged weather events.NE very marginal due to reliance on fuel oil/LNG and Diesel with high cost burdens.
Given most of the human beings receiving puberty blockers are females and most of the teens receiving gender related surgery are female (breast removal), it is not surprising people are relating this to girls being tomboys, puberty transformation struggles and teenage female body image issues rather than to an actual greater gender issue for females than for those born male at those ages.
This would explain the move of late Sweden and onto UK (and now in the USA) to less physiological and more psychological intervention. The do no harm approach then follows the approach of counsellors as to teens and sexuality, not to rush to identify but offer affirmative support to their personal development and understanding over time.
There are sex-based differences in causes, transition methods and impacts that emphasise the need to identify and address these cohorts as having distinct and unique support and needs.
Treating all who are transgender the same, is not patient-centred care.
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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, Friday 10 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/uk/300743302/economy-in-free-fall-britain-hikes-taxes-to-save-sinking-economy
Huh ,I've woken up in a parallel universe it would seem. Same but very different.
Thing about twitter is no one knows what’s going to happen,
https://twitter.com/mosquitocapital/status/1593541177965678592
https://twitter.com/zoeschiffer/status/1593649356661436417
Twitter in the sh*tter
Facebook, Amazon and Twitter are all in trouble anyway. (Not that I ever gave a shit about them – most social media is a mental illness factory.)
Either Musk does nothing and Twitter dies slowly but surely, or he attempts radical surgery. If Twitter dies anyway he will have done spent a lot of his money doing us all a public service (and a whole lot of skilled technical people will be released onto the US economy to do something else hopefully more useful) – or if something 2.0 arises from the chaos everyone will be calling him a genius yet again.
There are no downsides as far as I can see.
Save it now I recon. Quick re-write from scratch by some brash newish Twitter coder and its all sorted, back to full steam on Twitter. Not sure if Musk has experience with this approach, but how hard could it be anyway.
The real cost of money has appreciated to expose overvalued assets,zombie companies (and assets) and overpriced workers in the tech and service economies.
There will also be exposure to over reliance of tech,and the replacement of tax revenues will be difficult in say California,or worse in Ireland (where half the corporate tax comes from 10 companies)
https://twitter.com/lisaabramowicz1/status/1593221629105958913?cxt=HHwWgsCjtayooZwsAAAA
I recon the people who answer yes to that question, "can actually write software" have an exaggerated sense of their own abilities. Musk's way of saying, maximum 6 months experience required to be a Senior Twitter Coder, I guess.
https://twitter.com/peterclowes/status/1593458225533313025
Bookmarking
https://twitter.com/yoyoel/status/1593686891965992961
from behind paywall,
https://archive.ph/6FqcU
The EU privacy regulators are already in lengthy discussions with Twitters security heads on many of these.
Musk is without guardrails and worth about half what he had 6 months ago, and still going.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130516576/no-consequences-they-believe-they-can-get-away-with-whatever-they-want
Andrew Gunn on page B5 in the Christchurch Press satirises Luxon, boot camps and a 'hard core of young, anti-social, born-to-rule chinless wonders" who are at risk of being 'parachuted into a safe seat for life.'
"They see no consequences whatsoever and believe they can get away with whatever they want".
Brilliant satire……. if only.
I always get a bit sad that they have to put the label satire on these columns. We have become such literalists. It pains me to think that the appreciation of all these fabulous uses of language/figures of speech are incapable of being read and recognised for what they are.
There's a wee side swipe in the Gunn piece at the cares to which you allude. He even satirises the legal need for alleging allegations.
' "… to your sharers of inappropriate sexual images to your leakers of sensitive information for political purposes. All alleged, of course." (Thanks for that- Editorial legal team)'
It's like a lost skill
https://twitter.com/AgenderVoid/status/1593290868114731008
Reality can be bogus sometimes.
Very good – thanks.
Watching this debate,
https://youtu.be/_4-ynhbZqgs
first speaker (position = trans rights are not up for debate and it was wrong to invite Kathleen Stock to be part of the debate) just made the proposition that because we have the right to say something doesn't mean we should say it. Not sure they intended this, but it came across as: you have the right to say something, but it's wrong to say it.
Don't think he's made an argument to support that.
summarises the point of contention as definition of what is a man/woman, but refuses to debate this because that's debating trans people.
Instead they're going to look at Stock's actions eg tweets and support.
Starting with the LGB Alliance, they appear to make a number of negative assertions about LGBA (some of which are almost certainly not true and/or a misrepresentation of the LGBA position), and then asserts that Stock's involvement with the organisation is akin to having the same positions.
LGBA do 'truly reprehensible things', therefore support cannot be defensible. They don't provide evidence for the assertion of truly reprehensible. I don't know if this is normal in formal debate.
someone calls a point of order, that Kaldicott is not making a propositional case.
Kaldicott clarifies that he is supporting the motion (the right to offend), and is making the case for how this should be used and how Stock has not done this in an appropriate manner.
Stock's twitter and support for JK Rowling. Again, makes assertions but no real argument other than that he finds both women's positions abhorrent.
As a non-binary person, Kaldicott feels that living in the UK and looking at MSM it's impossible not to be miserable, it's impossible to listen to the voices on this topic and not be miserable, and so on. Stock and others disgust Kaldicott.
Ok, but why did they need 10 mins to the same basic things over and over?
Because it's a mantra and if it's repeated often enough it becomes truth.
It should never be "hate speech" to tell the truth. This violent man is not a woman and never will be. He should not be in a woman's prison either.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/130471744/restaurant-triple-stabber-jailed-for-nine-years-and-three-months?fbclid=IwAR2NPzcKmuSzLbfAOIACqqifKEQmHAgptlQEmU06BUfE0D1wdcdDwTlgudk
Kalicott came across as thoroughly arrogant. I am allowed to offend and say what I want about Kathleen Stock, but she doesn't have the right too.
Cherry picked distortions about LGB Alliance
Guy at 34 was excellent
Chair makes a statement that the speakers must address the proposition (this house believes in the right to offend), rather than focusing on other speakers.
second speaker, opposition to motion, Teodor Grama. Protest outside, agrees with protestors, it's wrong that the topic is being debated at the CU, but believes the debate is going to happen anyway so better to be involved.
His main argument is more interesting – that his side of the debate has the ability for nuance whereas the affirming side of 'right to offend' doesn't (the latter is a position that all offense is acceptable as free speech).
He uses Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses as an example of speech that many find offensive, but the offense is outweighed by the social good of the book.
His side wants to say some offense serves a social good, but there are other offenses that are unacceptable. He names homophobia, transphobia, racism and all 'other' forms of prejudice. He doesn't say who gets to decide. I will note that he didn't name misogyny (pertinent because prejudice against women is increasingly being made invisible as a social justice issue despite half the human population being female, and because lots of progressive men are complicit in this).
talking now about why the right to offend "is not a mere legal prohibition on state censorship". Why are we having this debate? Because various commentators have expressed offensive views in various forms. Names Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and JK Rowling, as three examples (spot the difference 🙄).
They haven't complained about not being legally allowed to speak, they've complained about cancel culture and deplatforming (says the young white man privileged enough to attend Cambridge University). He calls this backlash and social sanction, and goes on to make the assertion that the affirmative side, in supporting the right to offend is also saying that society should accept all speech without intervention, and that it is "illegitimate to restrict the proliferation of such views through any social means we have available, protest or otherwise"
This is clearly a nonsense. While the libertarian side of the free speech debate might be closer to that, gender critical feminists are clearly not saying that at all. Which makes me think he doesn't know what the GC views are (hence him grouping JKR with JP and Shapiro). Maybe he has no class analysis either and can't recognise left/right wing political positions and how they change meaning of GC.
In other words, he is saying that the right to offend must give 'fair hearing' to racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, transphobia, homophobia (the omission of misogyny is glaring now). He's trying to put the opposition view into a box of his making, rather than understanding it in its own terms and then critiquing it.
This is particularly relevant because Kathleen Stock's starting position as a philosopher is that we should be able to argue our opponent's position in a way that is fair to them, before we criticise it.
It's a feature of the gender/sex wars that genderists generally can't or won't do that. This is true of the first two speakers (who are genderists).
He now talks about why the affirmative can't meaningfully make a case for their position. The necessity of giving all views a fair hearing without censure means that individuals cannot respond in the free market of idea based on their own views, desires, values etc. It's an infringement on autonomy for people to listen to what they want and respond.
We do place restrictions eg on politicians during elections, and this serves a good social purpose.
Now he argues that offensive views generate more harm than social good (seems unaware of the irony of his views being offensive and thus being harmful, lol). He uses a broad category here of marginalised, minority people, vulnerable groups, who are denied free expression because of fear of ridicule and attacks. That the offensive views (which he hasn't defined) dehumanise them and infringe on their dignity).
Sidebar here. Penny just dropped. I think he's talking about trans people being the worst oppressed people,
but he's also as a white man talking about how white men are now treated by society. I doubt this is conscious, but it does explain why so many blokes feel much more affinity with trans people than they do with women. It also explains the refusal to understand or take seriously left wing GCF views. It's the patriarchy in action, make women the baddies. He goes on to say that people who make others feel this way should be deplatformed. Feminists eh, the ones who insist that feminism is politics for females.
Speakers from the floor. First one is another white dude arguing against women's rights to single sex spaces 🙄 Using an argument that opposition to gender mixed toilets comes from the right.
Speaker abstaining, another white man saying the debate has been a waste of his time because the speakers have failed to engage with points of information on comments they have made that are controversial and worthy of discussion. Sniping comments have been made about the guest speaker (Stock) and the first speaker basically ran an attack on her. The topic is worthy of debate, there are historical and contemporary reasons why, and it should be treated with more respect. Man standing up and arguing for debate rather than rhetoric.
Speaker opposing the motion, young black man, hard to hear as he didn't have a mike, but seems to be saying that the power that a person has matters in terms of the impact of what they say. Talking about something at the university, one of the departments and professors talking about race intelligence? Offensive words are made to harm, the house should oppose the right to offend.
Just realised that the background noise is the protest outside (using sound to disrupt people speaking is a common tactic of the genderist side).
Kathleen Stock was clearly nervous and you could hear the loud groups of protesters outside desperate to disrupt proceedings. But kudos to her for standing up and speaking out on behalf of a basic democratic right — to say things that some find heretical or offensive. She has bigger cojones than most of us.
Prof. Arif Ahmed from Cambridge (from about 1:14:00) was very eloquent and made his points graciously about public discourse in a democracy — and how the "right not to be offended" is always used by the dominant group in society to shut down dissent e.g. the governments of China or Iran. His closing quotes:
haven't watched the second half yet but her speech was so good, such a relief to hear that intelligence on all levels.
And yes, very brave.
Kathleen Stock excellent and she looked rattled. Understandably so. Must have brought back the harrassment (masked men on campas calling to get rid of Stock).
Shes one brave women.
Kathleen Stock, philosopher, former professor, author, lesbian (wouldn't normally mention that but the whole lesbians should have sex with trans identified males is the context).
She starts by saying that she's not going to respond to the things that have been said about her, although she obviously disagrees. It's fine for people to say what they want to say. She's going to respond to the debate question: is there a right to offend?
Newshub: Jacinda was hugely complimented at APEC in Thailand yesterday…
"A prophet in her own country", at least for some.
Meanwhile Luxon is now being satirised at home for doughnut politics where you u-turn on a u-turn of a u-turn, his ridiculous re-invention of militaristic boot-camp intervention and National's inability to see the effects on poor candidate selections by the interventions of powerful ruling elites.
Labour party seems set to sacrifice principles for convenience once again. Which would be surprising, except it really isn't.
I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to. But did participate in discussion around the proposed Incitement to Discrimination law changes the other year. So it seemed appropriate to mention this development here, rather than my usual online discussion places. At least until I get some of the disgust I feel for those craven poll chasers out of my system. I was liking being a swing voter, now I have much fewer voting options (never ACT, certainly not Luxon Nats, and now with Labour stacking gutlessness upon gutlessness – I am left with few choices next year).
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/hate-speech-reforms-drastically-watered-down
Thanks for beginning this timely discussion.
"I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to."
Disagreeing with you, or speaking about the impacts of legislative and policy changes is not transphobia, but it is often labelled as such.
As for the bill, it is unnecessary and should be thrown out in its entirety.
The transphobia cultivated here is an ongoing shame. And another pissweak backdown from Labour to please who? The fearful old people who would vote for Winston or the Nats anyway.
While twitter is still working
https://twitter.com/Publicwrongs/status/1593711332376731649
So fortunate to have direct access to actual lawyers and academics on this
https://twitter.com/Publicwrongs/status/1593723637923602432
Clarifying themselves in real time, even
https://twitter.com/Publicwrongs/status/1593727227467689985
"The transphobia cultivated here is an ongoing shame. "
The repeatedly unevidenced accusation is shameful.
I know you think otherwise – so, on this we disagree.
I do not expect you to examine your own conscience but it is a narrow path to choose.
Please stop trolling. If you want to have a conversation on TS about transphobia, then have the conversation rather than making vague digs that can’t be responded to meaningfully.
Merely wanted to make sure a commenter who said "I don't comment much on this site anymore; given the suffocating transphobia that I find it healthier to avoid subjecting myself to" did not see the only response being a denial of their reality. Not expecting your small group to change their minds.
[that’s not the problem, it’s how you did it. I see from your response that you won’t stop trolling, so take a week off. When you come back you are welcome to talk about transphobia, and/or affirm other people’s realities, but you cannot troll here. If you want an explanation of the difference, then ask – weka]
mod note.
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said?
The first irony is that this is the very reason the Labour Party has failed to make much progress with legislation. All the nuance, such as tightening up on the definition of what speech is in breech counts for nought, because of a fear that woke/PC activists will make groundless complaints to police to de-platform others.
The second irony is that G-CF see themselves as victims of the same de-platforming
https://twitter.com/Womans_Place_UK/status/1592929163039899649
PS G-CF, coz nothing shows up on google for “GCF”.
Please explain. Because no, I don't know what you are meaning. Use your words. It might be obvious to you, it’s not to me (I was just modding as I do based on a pattern of behaviour of someone who should know better and I didn’t want to waste any more of my time on it. Something that is also consistent with most mods here).
Again, don't know which legislation you are referring to. But as with Three Waters, there are a range of reasons for opposition. People who try and box it into for/progressive and against/bigots do the country a massive disservice.
and again, what is your point? Women's Place UK did have an event dropped by Eventbrite, allegedly because of EB's hateful speech policy. We will see if that stands, because the legal precedents have been established in UK law already that gender critical views are protected under law.
So what was your point exactly?
Sigh .. the being required to repeat myself to explain …
You do realise, all you have done is to confirm everything that Sacha said? Which was
Onto
Sigh – it's obviously that under discussion from 6 on. The long proposed change to legislation on hate speech (as to what it covers and in what way.
As for what was the point of my observation about those who practice de-platforming while complaining about it themselves – I will refer to the post of roblogic below still on 6
You can imagine how I feel being expected to engage with someone @ing me on a Saturday over a moderation when they can’t even be bothered to explain themselves.
So not everything Sacha said, but this one specific thing. What have I confirmed? You still haven’t explained. I’ll guess. You think that Sacha shouldn’t have been banned because he’s needed here to make sure that Temp doesn’t feel something? Why should someone who is obviously trolling be given allowances when others aren’t?
Again, it’s not obvious. I wasn’t reading the thread for content, I was reading it to moderate. They’re two different things. Sometimes moderators use the comment flow in the back end and we don’t see the whole conversation in context, we just see someone with a pattern of behaviour trolling and we intervene.
Still no idea what you are on about. I know what Rob means. I don’t know what you mean. Nothing worthwhile bothering with as apparently you can’t be arsed explaining. Maybe I’ll guess again. You think the moderating trolls is a suppression of free speech and I shouldn’t have done it. Who the fuck knows though.
We are here for the robust debate. Stop expecting people to mind read, make your argument or go away, because I don’t want to be wasting my time.
I did not see the support for Temp Orary view (first post and latter in his response to others) as trolling (but supportive to a greater diversity of contributor and involvement on "gender ID" debates). And otherwise his posts on 6 were in relation to the hate speech law itself and added to the debate.
thanks, now I understand. Can you please say that up front next time?
I didn’t moderate Sacha for his political content. He was moderated for his pattern of behaviours trolling.
I’m fine with people offering support and solidarity to Temp (or anyone). What is not ok is the sly digs all the way through. Intentional digs imo. If Sacha wanted to talk about the issues, he should have talked about the issues. If he wanted to support Temp, he can do that without the digs. The digs are the trolling, not the desire to offer support. I think trans people here do deserve more support. However this is a political blog, and there are substantial politics involved, ones that Sacha is largely in denial about and refuses to engage with. That’s his choice, but he can’t have it both ways.
I also won’t countenance left wing men making derogatory trolling comments about feminists. That’s just bullshit on a site like this. Sacha is well aware of just how difficult it is for feminists to write and comment here, so I can only take his support for Temp and digs at feminists and him picking a very particular side. He can do this of course, but he can’t troll from that. He has a history of this now, and it’s time it stopped. He can either front up and engage in the debate or he can keep his digs to himself.
In repsonse to Weka re SUFW not really left wing. They did a survery of themselves and most of them were Green/Labs.
Early on they were accused on not caring about other feminists causes. So they listed annonymously all the causes they had been involved with e.g Sos abortion services in the 1970s, The SB tour, rape crisis. The list is impressive. I am trying to post the link to the page but having some difficulty.
Nope no go, but visit SUFW and click on who we are for interest.
fair point. I was thinking of the people who are the public face of the group.
Re SUFW leadership….Ani O'b is no longer in that role.
New woman is a very strong lesbian leftie
In fact I would estimate at least 50% are lesbians.
Still can't post that link unfortunately
@Anker and @weka
Link:
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/who-we-are
Thanks Molly for that link. (ie. SUFW who we are link)
It is an impressive list of women supporting women and activism for women's and other causes.
Millsy where are you? I seem to think you think SUFW are right wing christian bigots. Here's the reality
SPC "G-CF see themselves as victims of the same deplatforming"
But actually gender critical feminists experienced a significant de platforming, when SUFW tried to have meetings about the self id gender bill to discuss this legislation in public libraries. They were smeared and mis represented and one by one their meetings were shut down by the libraries.
SUFW then took Palmerston North Library to the High Court and won the right to hold their meeetings. The High Court judges declared SUFW was not a hate group.
In all my years of activism, I have never had this experience before and this was a group of women who are largely feminist, left wing and non denominational.
I apprecaite the Standard every day as a place I can exercise my free speech
not sure I would classify SUFW as largely left wing, but agree that it's unprecedented.
Weka
I did have a (way too long) comment written yestereve that I decided to put aside unposted. Not least because it might be taken, in part, as criticism of site moderators. I may recycle it from word processor folder next week when Sacha is allowed to participate in the discourse again.
Does their banning expire on next Saturday or Sunday?
Hi Temp. not sure sorry, I usually just count 7 days ahead so it's probably sometime on the 27th.
What transphobia?
There are a number of gender critical women (and some men) on this site, who don't agree with gender ideology or queer theory.
For me not only do I not accept these theories (although I accept the right of people to believe them), I see a lot of harmful things about these ideologies that are not get reported in the NZ media.
Amongst other things
I feel no shame whatsoever that I am speaking up about this.
I do not expect you to feel shame. It is one though.
Shame is always a tool used by cults. If you do not adhere to the beliefs of the cult. If you question the premises of the cult; in this instance the premise that one can choose ones gender and children should helped to do so with drugs and surgery then you should feel ashamed. Cults will also disfellowship people in other words cancel them and refuse to engage with them.This is very unhealthy and causes much harm. Why not engage and talk to other people and find out what they think and why. This is one of the things I really like about the standard.
What do you think would be the appropriate punishment for a social and colonial construct who refuses to feel shame for not believing in transubstantiation?
100 lashes with leaf lettuce from Luxon’s Bic Mac and mandatory reprogramming in Luxon’s boot camp by having to listen to all his episodes of QT until you feel tears of sorrow, pity, and shame and vote for anything but Labour or Green Party.
Salad daze.
Rhubarb rage
Apparently, it's having to expect and accept with resigned equanimity, inane responses such as the one above…
I am very much looking forward casting a vote for Legalise Aotearoa. No social constructs of any kind will be harmed with my vote. 🙂
People, especially self-righteous ones, are so quick to judge, especially when they miss the meaning of words and misunderstand and/or misinterpret the concepts, analogies, and metaphors used by others with whom they have already decided to disagree
Alternatively, it could just be that a shared sense of humour does not exist, given that no content to either agree or disagree with was on offer.
Eg. I thought your comment was not funny, and mine was.
As with many subjective comments rather than rational reasoned debates, judging one’s humour as funny or not is highly subjective. Perhaps it wasn’t humour per se but a means to convey something without making it sound too harsh in order to make it more palatable to those who are less receptive because of the dogmatic walls they have erected/constructed.
The first part of my comment was, of course, about (public) flogging and shaming as a form of punishment and a tool of manipulation. Public shaming is very common in sexual hate speech, as you know. Flogging with word salads is common here too; TS has its own Grand Executioner, who shall not be named right now, and some self-righteous regulars just love it.
I’m happy to expand and elaborate on my comment to demonstrate the underlying politics and political message that involves public shaming and invoking shame and conscience on this political blog to score points rather than to further/foster constructive debate. It may show you that there was actually an awful lot of content packed into that brief ‘inane’ comment of mine, which you happened to miss or ignore. Just say the word
". It may show you that there was actually an awful lot of content packed into that brief ‘inane’ comment of mine, which you happened to miss or ignore. Just say the word "
Thanks, Incognito for the offer.
The word is "No."
People who believe in trans theology/gender theory are perfectly within their rights to do so. Trying to evangelise others and force them into a belief system that they find idiotic (to put it politely) is what gets their backs up.
OTOH those who hold to trans theology/gender theory as a vital part of their identity have a right to feel aggrieved or offended when their religious beliefs are mocked. But that goes for any culture. It feels bad when Māori culture is sidelined or suppressed, or when my own religion is trashed in the news.
Doesn't give me a right to cancel the free speech of others or to force them to submit to my beliefs.
Agree.
Did you really mean 'transubstantiation' in its usual theological meaning:
'the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining'.
or
Transubstantiation is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ"
as opposed to consubstantiation
https://www.britannica.com/topic/consubstantiation
These are long term uses of language. The trans debate has already cost bio women much in human rights with the lack of guaranteed access to safe spaces. Personally I would be unhappy if the trans debate also claimed a serviceable and specific word to its uses.
NB I support human rights ie no discrimination for transgender people but not at the cost of hard fought for human rights for women.
Or were you meaning it in the context of an Emperors New Clothes or Alice (words mean what I want them to mean).
In which case it is a very clever use.
transubstantiation,,,,,that the anti female trans community says happens to them even without any genital surgery, ie they magically turn to bio females.
I'd be happier though with the use of consubstantiation to represent my idea of what happens. Blood & wine of Christ are represented by wine and water. Trans women look like women but are not women.
Again reinforcing that no-one should be denied human rights or subject to insult by the way they look.
Again Sacha a clever use of words.
I think David Chappelle said it very well
"I support anyone's right to be who they want to be. My question is: to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?"
I would add to that quote, at what stage am i allowed to opt out of participating in someone elses self image as a validation tool, specially when it starts to endanger those like me and removes my rights and the language that i need to advocate for myself and those like me.
Anyone can pretend/believe that an unleavened wafer and a drop of bad wine is the body and the blood of Christ, and anyone should be allowed to not believe that same thing. In the end, it is only an unleavened wafer and a drop of bad wine.
Ditto for people who would like to pretend that they are the other sex. They are not. They can present stereotypically feminine or masculine, but no male has ever given birth and no female has ever inseminated another.
And it will also not happen in the future. These are just basic facts of life. And we should be able to admit these realities, and build on that.
Disclaimer: I lived for nine years in a convent and well, i don't do submission and obedience very well i guess.
I agree with what you say.
Thankfully the school I went to Anglican, prided itself of growing, for want of a better word, stroppy females prepared to question. We led a huge revolt when a headmaster tried to move us from middlebrow Anglican to High Anglican, with all sorts of prayers throughout the day. To do this meant urgent research on all matters theological so we could marshall our arguments. So we were not submissive either.
This is very powerful Sabine.
No NZ government on our history has advanced the interests of the trans community like this one in both legal protection and directed health expenditure.
What this government needs to work on more is protecting them from physical harm.
The survey on how well NZPolice are dealing with the massively high proportion of violence against trans and binary people will have useful results for Police and for comparing against the last Crime and Victims Survey.
Transgender, non-binary abuse victims asked for experiences with police | Stuff.co.nz
This actual protection from violence, not more legislation, is where they need to focus their effort.
That article demonstrates very little evidence of harm, but rather survey respondents self- perception of harm:
"…including the fear of being discriminated against…"
This is a particular interesting example, worth further discussion:
""We have seen changes, for example if a trans woman is being assaulted by her husband, and he says that's because he's found out she's trans, that will no longer be treated as an excuse," she says."
So, let's go through this:
(NB: Framed as a long-term relationship through the use of husband, implying marriage and previous intimate knowledge, but is relevant in terms of any intimate relationship, including casual sex.)
Looking for information regarding this issue from our own advisory rainbow community organisations, it is not fully addressed, while they advocate consent be agreed upon, they also advise that as a transperson you are not compelled to "out yourself" to anyone.
If you engage in a sexual act with someone who you know has a sexual orientation that excludes you as an intimate partner, and know that they perceive you to be another sex, and you not only don't rectify that perception but encourage it – is this either sex by deception, sexual orientation conversion of some type, or both?
Perception of harm, better known as fear, is a pretty useful indicator of your place in the offending world.
Now that self-identification is easier, the Police reporting and community reporting will get more specific. The last NZCVS one I've seen was 2021.
NZCVS-LGB-Final.pdf (justice.govt.nz)
"Perception of harm, better known as fear, is a pretty useful indicator of your place in the offending world."
Is it, though?
Surely there are justifiers missing there, such as "realistic" or indeed "justified" perception of harm.
Otherwise, an unrealistic or unjustifiable perception of harm is given equal merit in consideration.
harm….. always in the eyes of the beholder, right?
did you see this?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/19/ministry-justice-officials-warned-talk-protecting-women-could/
Yes, I did.
"“protect women’s spaces/protecting women and girls”" is dogwhistle, huh?
#NoImpact they lied.
Seems like ground is being lost so quickly at the moment.
The ground was lost a long time ago, now they are just making it public for those that thought that there was still a ‘fight’ going on. And all the major parties agree to this, just like they all agree on hate speech laws and the likes.
in the UK that's not true. Case law has now established that GC beliefs are protected against discrimination. It appears where there is push back the genderist stuff falls (seems to be happening with the arresting people for tweets thing too). Public pressure is helping, more people are speaking up.
It will probably take another court case to test HMPPS policy and whether it is legal. These are not minimal gains, they are serious ones. It means that in the UK Judges ultimately get to decide what is fair and reasonable, not MPs.
Laws are only good if they are enforced by those that enforce the law.
I can think in English, German, French.
I can also speak English while having a German conversation with my relatives which always is quite funny as it takes some time to switch of. In essence they speak German, my brain understands it but my answers come in English and i did the same while living in France and visiting home.
But i am an easy learner of languages speaking and reading- but i can't write for the life of me in any language, that really demands effort and literally hurts my brain.
I also dream in German, English and French.
Edit: i do however not translate from German into English or French, i simply speak these languages with the vocabulary i have and am continuously adding new words to hat vocabulary.
Edit to my previous comment re thinking in a foreign language.
While the voice in my head speaks english – i don't consider myself as thinking.
If i were to live in full immersion of Te Reo i would soon enough speak Te Reo. With of course horrible grammar and all that, but i would be able to survive in a place where that would be the only language spoken. If that makes sense to you?
it does. You are fortunate to have that gift. I don't have the ear so have to learn the hard way.
This is it actually, i don't think the language i hear it. Language has a sound, ones the sound becomes familiar the sentences have beginnings and ends, the words suddenly jump out and you can literally see them as individuals. Advertising on telly is great for it as you have the action/product, the written word and the sound. Link the sound to the image of the word and the action / product so easy. My favorite TV show at the time a brilliant music telly production called Taratata with Nagui.
But the best tools for learning a language is a dictionary with phonetic writing in them, which i had for english. Hence why I have some abilities to communicate in the written word.
For your other discussion the word that i would have used -specially in that context would have been Whenua.
#no impact – they lied.
No they did not. They never lied.
It is just us that thought that at least a few may care what happens to the non persons that birthed them, that are their offspring, that are their partners. And that these few may find some spine and guts and heart to fight for these things in their lives.
But i think the ones that will find this hardest to deal with these changes are those with education. The poor among us already know this and in many places live their life without dignity, safety and respect. And other then lip service nothing is paid to their plight. The difference between the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Taliban in England is simple. The one hides their property under a bedsheet for ‘protection’ the other erases every mention of their property in public records, removes the words that used to describe them, and pretends its progressive and good for all. The effects are the same.
And the educated PHD holding and sitting in Parliament Serena Joys of this world will learn it in due time, as will the dears in our political parties that still feel so progressive about their pronouns and daily linguistic incantations to affirm their loyalty to the cause.
I understand why young ones cut of their breast and inject anabolic steroids like it was a saline solution, it is their way out of this misery and hopefully be accorded the privilege of being male and thus granted a chance at a decent life.
We are now effectively back in the times were the word women did not appear in any legal texts, were women were incomplete men in the medical texts and washing hands was not something to expect from a doctor, were women are property to birth , clean and provide sexual services and other free of charge labour, were women are things to own, use and dispose of. And anyone even just daring to to feel conflicted about this shit is a phobe or sorts who hates men in skirts that go spinny.
The day men and some women thought that locking violent males in prison cells with women was progressive was the day women were thrown in the village pond to see if they float whilst tied to a chair.
One question that i have, is transgenderism a religion? And will that fall under the protection of the hate speech laws?
Thanks Sabine.
Just when I think it couldn't get worse, this government promises to fast track hate speech legislation.
Many left wing and progressive people will support this because they have cultivated a habit of censure and shaming when challenged by disagreement. Add in a bit of sanctified victimhood, and the expectation of reasoned discussion is no longer necessary.
Who needs it when we all know what is hateful (and unkind)?
Shame, shame on those who might suggest opposing such legislation. Do they have no empathy for those who have a perception of fear?
https://www.police.govt.nz/advice-services/advice-victims/hate-crime
"A hate crime is an offence perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age.
A hate incident is an act perceived to be motivated by hate for these characteristics, but doesn’t meet the threshold of being considered a crime.
Hate crimes and hate incidents can encompass a broad range of acts, including threatening behaviour, harassment and verbal abuse, online abuse, criminal damage, assault and sexual violence.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nz-has-high-female-murder-rate/I543VT6NW7UZRVBUSQ6AONJUCY/
Despite our high female murder rate, and non-existent transgender body count (long may it continue) – which protected characteristic from the Human Rights Act (1993) is missing (alongside marital status)? – and which is an inclusion of a characteristic that is not in the same Act?
Three guesses. (Though if you need more than one, don't bother.)
Given this current policy, how do you see this hate legislation shaping up, Sabine?
Because I'm thinking it's going to be horrendous.
Yes, yes… I hear the bell…
GIF – but not embedded:
https://external-preview.redd.it/Gb4_ryKNoxM7lfXoHx–EH67HYxsihzGeoybcXFIopQ.gif?format=mp4&s=c08132794602ed0054dd156ef4760eaf721a619e
how do i think it is progressing?
My dear, we shall meet in the ponds, on the stakes, scolded and shamed for daring to not be obedient property. As it was done in the past.
in answer to your link.
https://www.feministcurrent.com/2016/10/04/this-is-how-they-broke-our-grandmothers/
Hey Sabine, for another conversation, can you think in both English and German?
@Sabine
Thanks for the link. So many books, so little time…
"My dear, we shall meet in the ponds, on the stakes, scolded and shamed for daring to not be obedient property. As it was done in the past"
And people criticised women for lunching, when these alternatives remained ready and waiting…
Shaming us for having lunches is just the beginning. It all starts somewhere and it ends with us not having the right to define us, meet among ourselves and simply be.
the things that we are are to validate others, serve them, seen but never heard.
Which leaves this question -last raised sometime during the 1400 – are we actually human?
Archived article for those who couldn't get past the paywall:
https://archive.ph/sqpWm
This tweet has the actual document in it:
https://twitter.com/NoXYinXXprisons/status/1594111361692225537?s=20&t=UiJFZLNrNIrCvreDuZ8JlA
Words not allowed to be meaningful or accurate.
of course words can't have meaning …… that would be counteractive to the movement. Words mean what ever those in power mean at the time they state them. Humpty Dumpty is their best friend and inspiration.
Are you arguing that there is no such thing as informed consent to having sex with a transgender person, if this is not known in advance?
Or are you arguing that someone is having their sexual orientation compromised when they sleep someone who is transgender without knowing this in advance?
Sex by deception – lies about background (marital/relationship status, fake dating site profiles) …
I am inviting discussion on this issue.
"Or are you arguing that someone is having their sexual orientation compromised when they sleep someone who is transgender without knowing this in advance?"
At the very least – if that sexual orientation is known beforehand – there is a degree of disrespect, don't you think? For lesbians and gays the notion that their sexual orientation was due to the fact they just hadn't met the right "man" or "woman" was a battle seemingly won decades ago. How have we returned to this battleground?
(IIRC, sex by deception includes non-disclosure of positive STD status as well.)
There is only one case of successful prosecution of sexual assault in this scenario that I am aware of (in the UK):
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/29/gayle-newland-found-guilty-at-retrial-of-tricking-female-friend-into-sex
AFAIK, Gayle did not identify as transgender so the discussion can be about the right of both parties to information before engaging in intimate acts.
Successful prosecution regarding non-disclosure of HIV status:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/331698/man-sentenced-after-knowingly-infecting-partner-with-hiv
The charge was grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard:
"Mikio Filitonga was found guilty by jury in March of a charge of grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard and in the Auckland District Court was sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail yesterday."
I suspect the obligation for disclosure falls under public health regulations:
"Filitonga tested positive for the virus on 27 February 2013.
On 26 July that year he was told of his legal obligations as an HIV positive man by a nurse."
In practice only informed consent as to public health (after instruction of a requirement to inform others of an infection) applies to date.
… the UK case cited is truly outlier (given the person was willing to not see – be blindfolded – and wanted penetrative sex with a male partner), as conviction required belief that the victim did not recognise her best female friend (a lesbian) as the “male” she was dating.
One wonders if long term relationships (between a transgender person and another) could later be posed as having been without informed consent, once they end. Bitter break-ups …
"In practice only informed consent as to public health (after instruction of a requirement to inform others of an infection) applies to date."
That distinction is made in the paper below, which has some other interesting considered scenarios, including some similar to after breakup dissatisfaction.
The UK case is interesting, and is it a scenario that is more likely to occur with young people who are likely to be more compliant and uncertain in sexual relationships, or is it something else – or nothing else, just a one-off?
It appears that the woman convicted was unable to acknowledge her same-sex orientation, so created a persona (NOT gender identity) in order to separate that orientation as a method of dealing with it.
That can be understood.
And the successful mechanics of subterfuge seems like something that may be interpreted as willful blindness.
While that cannot be discounted, it must also be considered that the young woman who was convicted also became intimate friends with the woman who was misled, and would likely have influenced her to accept the conditions of contact and intimacy laid down by her male persona.
So, it was a lengthy, and sustained level of deception which may not be duplicated again.
However, the impact on the woman – who is heterosexual, upon discovering that her sexual partner was a female – was reported as significant. Her response indicates her level of distress.
There's also a 2013 NZ specific paper on this topic that provides further points of discussion:
https://www.otago.ac.nz/law/research/journals/otago065276.pdf
They make a point about the distinction between informed consent in medicine, as opposed to informed consent in personal intimate relationships (P 14):
What are the rates of violence against trans and non binary Ad? or don't we have them yet?
We do have homicide figures and the rates of murder against trans or non binary are low compared to the rest of the population.
Last murder of a transgender person was a cross dresser whose drug deal when wrong in or around 2009.
BTW I condeme violence against anyone in the most whole hearted terms and believe protection from such, if it can be provided is paramount.
I put the 2021 NZCVS in the above.
NZCVS-LGB-Final.pdf (justice.govt.nz)
"LGB adults are more than twice as likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) and/or sexual violence (68% of bisexual adults and 57% of lesbian or gay adults have experienced IPV and/or sexual violence) compared to the NZ average (29%) based on the NZCVS."
I'd expect this will get more specific now that the categories are easier to self-identify.
"I'd expect this will get more specific now that the categories are easier to self-identify."
Why would that be more specific?
Also, wouldn't there also be potential for loss of accuracy regarding violence statistics in regards to sex and sexual orientation if people can self-identify in and out of statistical groups?
Easier to identify now that there's clearer legal identification.
In answer to your second question: no it's so small it will statistically wrinse out.
"In answer to your second question: no it's so small it will statistically wrinse out."
Even if I agreed – which I don't – wouldn't that reasoning work both ways?
Let's wait and see but my suspicion is less than minor.
Coming up in March next year is the census, and it will be the first to ask everyone about their gender, sexual identity, and whether they have any variations of sex, getting straight to questions on ones':
They can't help but to a better job than last time.
"They can't help but to a better job than last time."
A better job in what respect?
Giving someone an opportunity to declare an identity?
And/or gathering accurate and useful data in terms of identifying effective means to reduce violence?
ie. The gender question is now ambiguous.
Does it refer to sex or gender identity? Even if intended for one or the other, will it be answered consistently? If that cannot be assumed, accuracy is already compromised.
"variations of sex characteristics "
Also self-subjective, so not particularly useful in quantitive analysis.
I do agree that good quality data is necessary, however, I am not reassured it will be achieved.
Sorry, just realised that we've moved onto the census, rather than the surveys initially discussed, in which case the reference to violence is limited.
The rest in regards to accuracy in terms of analysis, and effective use remains.
Do they have a definition of these "variation of sex characteristics" or are they lumping people with Differences or Variations of Sex Development – which are medical conditions (used to be called "Intersex") in with sexuality and/or gender identity? Unfortunately, these 40 or so known syndromes have been weaponised by gender idealogues in an attempt to prove that sex is some sort of spectrum. It provides no such evidence in that those that are fertile – and many are not- produce either sperm or eggs so do not create additional sexes and certainly do not change sex. It is just more idealogical obfuscation which seems to have been swallowed wholesale by lawmakers.
@visubversa. Link here:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Reports/2023-Census-Final-content-report/2023-Census-Final-content-report.pdf
I can foresee data accuracy issues.
Personally I keep thinking that the recent proliferation of endocrine disruptors from all plastics, pesticides and soy based food sources may well have something to do with all of this.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm
@RedLogix
Endocrine disruption is an interesting area. Since reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, I think that determining if there is an environmental factor is always a question that should be answered.
I do think that around this topic of gender identity other factors come into play, especially taking into account the ever expanding notion of what falls under this umbrella. (eg. Drag Queens ) and the Q+ coterie.
Starting point will be the old-school transsexuals, so distress due to dysphoria will still be a part. But it is a small part now, and nowhere near the whole. (NB. Current gender ideology considers that expecting distress and even a dysphoria/gender incongruence diagnosis is transphobic).
After looking at many sources, including from those who identify as transgender, I think there are a multitude of different routes to self-identification.
Identifying the most common, and the demographic of who travels each path is important.
Despite the collective moniker, the starting points, journeys and destinations are often markedly different.
@Molly
Yes – I was not suggesting that widespread endocrine disruption was the sole driving factor here – but I get the sense it has been rather overshadowed by the far more visible and noisier cultural debate.
And as an engineer my mind naturally gravitates toward possible root causes.
Among the many disastrous mistakes of the medical community it is the often overlooked DES debacle:
While DES turned out to be a remarkably powerful disruptor, many of the chemicals listed in my reference in my first comment are rather similar especially Bisphenol A (BPA) – in its estrogen like behaviour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_Bisphenol_A
BPA is almost ubiquitous in our environment and while it is mostly chemically bound to other components, small amounts of it inevitably hydrolyse and become biologically available.
All this is subject to some degree of controversy among the specialist community – but frankly I would be very keen to see this issue get more political visibility. There are much wider implications around human fertility than just the trans debate we are having here.
@RedLogix
The fertility issue is huge – and one I occasionally spend time on. I think the factors you have listed are unfortunately only two entries in a long list. The DES, I'd come across before. Of interest is the sentence that follows advice on medical vigilance:
I'd add: as yet.
BPA is a concern, which has led to old school personal preferences for food a drink storage, although it can't fully be avoided.
Small amounts are enough to have significant impacts on the endocrine system.
Recently, are acknowledging long-term health impacts from the contraceptive pill.
The interference of the endocrine system that is labelled affirming healthcare is not informed by robust clinical evidence. That fact should concern everyone regardless of perspective.
Gender – is that sex – large gamete vs small gamete?
Sexual identity – is that based on gender or sexual attraction? There is a huge difference between 'same gender' attraction or 'same sex' attraction.
i.e.
transwomen – transwomen = lesbian = same gender attraction
transwomen – female = lesbian = same gender attraction
human female – female = lesbian = same gender attraction
transman + female = hetero = opposite gender attraction
transwoman + male = hetero = opposite gender attraction
male – female – hetero= opposite gender attraction
transman + male = gay = same gender attraction
transman + transman = gay -= same gender attraction
male + male = gay = same gender attraction
Glossary:
Transwomen – male presenting as a female
Transman – female presenting as male
male – adult human male – standard edition
female – adult human female – standard edition
Non binary – everyone who can't be bothered really playing the game but wants some of that transcred cause being male/female is so boring and cis. 🙂
You can now fill forms out in which you can be "other".
And thus, the male that got locked into a female prisons for a short stay of 9 years and a few month for going into into a restaurant on a stabbing spree stabbing two and slashing the face of of his ex is a women crime and a women on women crime and everyone will have to pretend to have been assaulted by a 'woman'. She/her and all that stubble and jazz.
I mean if you want to devalue accurate record keeping about the countries population growth, future population growths, about crime, and such that is the way to go.
We might as well be counting sheep and declaring them cows.
"We might as well be counting sheep and declaring them cows."
Wool and dairy forecasts may be a bit off …
I knew about the higher rates of intimate partner violence amongst lesbian couples.
That was one of the surprising findings to come out of the fabulous Dunedin Multidiscliplinary Study. I have searched that study to see what if anything they have found out about transgender people and to date have found nothing. Suspect that is to do with the cohorts age group (pre gender ideology and queer theory taking hold) and also because the cohort is around 1000, just not enough numbers
And don't forget Toko Shane Winter (who demands to be called Ashley) who was convicted for the sadistic torture and murder of a young woman in 2019. The NZ media showered him with female pronouns and called him a woman several times right throughout his trial, conviction and sentencing for this crime. They had become a bit more balanced when it came to reporting his unsuccessful appeal.
The govt spening money on gender affirming care is highly problematic and may lead to some of the situations overseas, for example the gender clinic at the Tavistock Clinic in London. After senior paedeatrian Dr Hillary Cass was half way through her review she ordered the clinic be closed due to safety concerns. A highly unsual move for an NHS trust.
The concerns were around the use of puberty blockers, automatic affirmation of gender identity and the lack of a comprehensive assessment for youngster who most often had significant co-morbidities with their gender dysphoria. The Tavistock is also facing a significant class action taken by families and patients who have been damaged by this approach.
But if you want to sing the praises of this govt for going down this dubious pathway, then don't let me stop you.
Remember that prior to 1990s the rates of transgender people was something like one in thirty thousand. Teen girls where almost unheard of in the early days of the Tavistock clinic. Then around the time of the invention of the smart phone there was an exponential growith in teen girls presenting to gender clinics. Many of them had been exposed to trans information in chat rooms. Social contagian if very common in adolescent girls. We have seen it with girls with anoerexia, bulimia, self harm and now gender dysphoria. The govt in endorsing gender affirming care , is endorsing the wrong approach for these troubled youngsters
Just finishing lunchtime and glanced back at this site. Too many responses to reply to now, I will get onto that this evening if I have the energy.
As those prone to racism, misogyny and homophobia carve out niches on social media to support their ideas, an easy path is not to engage with that toxicity. Good on you Temp ORary for having the courage to state that you feel you have encountered "suffocating transphobia" here. Hope it's OK to post links in response. Kia kaha.
The central role of empathy in reducing exclusionary behaviour is an interesting observation – several online questionaires are available for assessing empathy.
Sentiment Analysis Scale
I believe what would be truly admirable, is when someone who makes this accusation actually posts examples of it.
Is this what you are referring to? – the successful prosecution of Richard Jacobs:
"New Zealand has laws against hate speech but they only apply to discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. The letter of the law is so broad that courts have adopted a much narrower interpretation since it was passed in 1993, meaning only a single successful prosecution for hate speech has occurred in the past 29 years. That case was last year, when Tauranga man Richard Jacobs posted a YouTube video calling for genocide and a race war against Māori."
If it is, I'm going to make an assumption (correct me if I am wrong) that you do not disagree with either the prosecution or the success.
So, is it that you wish that more prosecutions take place?
1. Because many others are calling for genocide on the basis of a protected characteristic?
2. Because the level of genocide is too high a bar for hate speech, and you want that determinator to be something else? What do you propose?
Your links to Canada etc are unexceptional, particularly given that Canada is justifying a lot of atrocities in the name of progression these days. A trial currently is taking place for a nurse in regards to her speech:
https://en.protothema.gr/nurse-amy-hamm-fights-for-sex-based-freedom-of-expression-today-in-court/
Is this Canadian distinction the one you seek to emulate here in NZ?
As for the domestic The Disinformation Project – is it truly possible that there are those on the left that do not recognise The Ministry of Truth when it lands on our shores?
Re the current court case, it will be informative to have written and recorded the police's decision not to prosecute and why, and the judgement:
"Timmins was backing the case of Auckland man Russell Hoban against the attorney-general about a West Auckland pastor’s sermon, posted on Facebook in April 2017, that called for gay people to be shot. Timmins described the pastor as “self-titled” and said the sermon was recorded in the man’s lounge.
“My view on homo marriage is that the Bible never mentions it so I’m not against them getting married … As long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss,” the pastor said.
No charges were laid for inciting violence against gay people."
Left the links in because they are necessary for those who haven't read the article.
Given the obvious incitement to violence against those practicing homosexuality (as indicated by a marriage), the police failure to prosecute would seem inexplicable. Might be a next time we will warning case …
Generally most people would oppose threats of violence to individuals or groups of individuals (race, ethnicity, origin and extend that to sex, gender, sexuality, religion).
The question would be around incitement to violence (such violence being a hate crime) and then onto hate itself.
Given that they were successful in prosecuting Richard Jacobs, above, I think it's really important to show how they made that decision.
There is not enough details in the article, that perhaps the published decision will provide.
I suspect the Jacobs case was easily identified as a call for genocide: "calling for genocide and a race war against Māori." whereas the Timmins case was related not to a call for genocide because of homosexuality, but the self-declared pastor's response to the acceptance of gay marriage. A small difference, but it should be clarified if this is the interpretation.
Well i guess these colonial and societal construct are just getting their deserved come uppance being locked up with a male offender who stabbed three people – one of them the ex of the offender who stabbed the colonial and societal construct in the lungs and slashed the face.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/130471744/restaurant-triple-stabber-jailed-for-nine-years-and-three-months
Lets all feel ashamed for thinking that this is wrong.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ReduxxMag/status/1592581398787133440
brilliant Sabine
Perhaps a "reflective circle" is required – such as the one a young high-school student had to attend when she challenged the presence of a boy in the girls changing room:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11366041/amp/School-let-trans-girl-making-threats-girl-complained-using-girls-bathroom.html
"It also claims that the school turned a blind eye to ‘death threats’ made against Blake by the transgender student, who said after the locker room incident ‘I’m going to f***ing kill Blake Allen’.
They are said to have been selective in their discipline, despite suspending Blake for two days for 'misgendering' the student, then ordering her to take part in a 'reflective circle' where she returned.
That saw equity coordinator Jamie Connor and other students attempt to brainwash Blake into seeing the error of her ways, it is alleged. "
I'm sure there are a few on here that would enjoy the get-together – I mean the opportunity to "reflect".
The only difficulty I can see would be to find someone to volunteer as " equity coordinator" for the aforementioned shameful ones…
Christ! The reflective circle. I happen to be re-reading 1984 at the moment.
Yes let this young woman experience the reflective circle. We must eradicate wrong think!
In my life time it has taken so much work (by other women) to tell women and girls they can trust their instincts and if they speak up they will be heard
That might explain the black mirror (TV series name) as to be being enlightened in such a circle, as to agreeing with the group opinion.
According to the Herald today, Winston Peters for the first time ever in his political career, is ruling out working with two parties prior to the election – bold move. (Premium content so have not attached)
Judging by some of the comments on this blog, this could be a clever tactic.
It doesn’t matter if it is ‘premium content’ or not, you should still provide a link for verification for and by others, preferably with a note/warning about it being behind a paywall or subscription-only.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/nz-first-leader-winston-peters-would-he-work-again-with-labour/WJHT3DVJFNBW5FYG2SKKFTGZRE/
Paywalled.
Do you know Alan, is Winston saying he won't go with Labour or the Greens?
Wonder if it was hiding He puapua from him before the last election or Trev tresspassin g him that did it. But actually maybe I am wrong, perhaps he is happy to go with L and G and it is some other party he's ruling out. Opps just seen from the headline its Labour plus???
L and MP
(based on not having read anything paywalled at the Herald)
Not actually true – he has until now ruled out being in a coalition with either ACT and Greens.
Thus campaigning as the centrist partner of either National or Labour (reducing ACT and Greens as support partner of one coalition or the other).
He intends to campaign like he did in 1996, against the government. But in this case rules out forming a coalition afterwards.
The option he proffers is National on the right (taking votes off ACT) and NZ First (taking votes Labour won off National in 2020) in the centre.
In dividing against Labour and MP he is making fear of "He Puapua" (indigenous peoples rights and Treaty partnership concepts) front and centre of a "majoritarian democracy" alliance between National and NZF (nostalgia for the simplicity of the pavlova paradise assimilationist age baby boomers were raised up in – as per the Brexit vote in the UK). Winston is doing a Boris.
In not excluding ACT or Greens, Peters leaves open a competition between them to be the support partner to a National-NZF coalition if that is required.
His technical difficulty – he will struggle to gain as many votes in the centre as he might want/need if he does not rule out a coalition including ACT. And ACT could rule out supporting a National-NZF coalition if they were not included.
Winston Peters for the first time ever in his political career
His language directed at Bolger and National before 1996 was even stronger than his criticism of Ardern. It meant nothing.
But let's face it, we've had this dance many times before, and in the end it comes down to the same old question: do we learn from experience or not? Note the language used: "rule out" … "work with" … To quote Game Of Thrones … "words are wind".
2023 Winston: "I did not say that, you in the media always get it wrong", etc, etc.
When he writes a legally-binding document with affidavit that says "I refuse to be Deputy PM or Foreign Minister or take any role in government offered by Labour even if they offer it and National don't … also, here is my bond of a million dollars which I will forfeit if I break this promise" – then it'll mean something.
Until then, Winston gonna Winston. Fools gonna believe.
I prefer Seymour’s twerking to Winston’s Tango For One, by, for, and with Winston. Winston goes for the sentimental value of nostalgia and glory days of the past that never really were. Trotter will love it.
Winston Peters' speech, before 2005 election:
"We are in this for our policies – not the perks of office. …
Now the voters know New Zealand First will not be in government – by our own choice – they also deserve to know that we intend to serve New Zealanders, as we always have, by keeping the next government honest.
… It involves for my colleagues a real sacrifice, but we willingly make it. For my part, I never took as deputy Prime Minister ministerial cars or a house, so we genuinely don’t care about the baubles of office."
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0509/S00180.htm
(and so after the election, he became Helen Clark's Foreign Minister, and took other portfolios too).
A big shoutout to the Capital Kiwi Project for reaching their conservation milestone of releasing 250 Kiwi onto 23,000 hectares of mostly private land in the Wellington region.
In particular to the landowners of the big Terawhiti block, Kinnoull, Meridian, Mill Creek Farms, Papanui Boomrock, Pikarere, many of which have been in families for generations.
Kiwi to call the capital home as huge conservation project comes to fruition | Stuff.co.nz
This is a private protected area larger than Abel Tasman National Park. This kind of project takes years and years to do, so also well done to all the Trustees in particular previous Mayor Kerry Prendergast.
Latest New Zealand deprivation index is out.
Check out the sea of red in Auckland's west and south. Anywhere east of Tauranga. Most of the West Coast.
New Zealand Index of Deprivation, 2018 (NZDep2018) (arcgis.com)
This is tough reading when compared against the previous ones.
Interesting Ad. Though those figures up to 2018. Areas gone redder 2013 to 2018. Not sure if that is meaningful?
be good to see a post on this, esp with the comparison.
Is the upper West Coast related to the floods of recent years, or have they exacerbated an already dire situation?
Western Southland is interesting too.
Much of the red colour outside main cities is old people on fixed incomes selling the house in the city, banking the cash, moving somewhere cheap, and just living off the basics to eke it out.
Makes for a very old small regional town.
And most of them are shrinking.
Welcome to the hyper-ageing nation that is New Zealand | Stuff.co.nz
First extreme cold event of the season starts in US with Buffalo hit by snow lake effect and 4 foot falls,due to ridging event in Alaska.
NE US will be susceptible to energy outages (as a number of other loc) during prolonged weather events.NE very marginal due to reliance on fuel oil/LNG and Diesel with high cost burdens.
https://twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/1593466063437471745
https://twitter.com/NWSBUFFALO/status/1593422519297445888?cxt=HHwWgMCo_djV_JwsAAAA
Given most of the human beings receiving puberty blockers are females and most of the teens receiving gender related surgery are female (breast removal), it is not surprising people are relating this to girls being tomboys, puberty transformation struggles and teenage female body image issues rather than to an actual greater gender issue for females than for those born male at those ages.
This would explain the move of late Sweden and onto UK (and now in the USA) to less physiological and more psychological intervention. The do no harm approach then follows the approach of counsellors as to teens and sexuality, not to rush to identify but offer affirmative support to their personal development and understanding over time.
There are sex-based differences in causes, transition methods and impacts that emphasise the need to identify and address these cohorts as having distinct and unique support and needs.
Treating all who are transgender the same, is not patient-centred care.
Abigail Shrier’s book: Irreversible Damage
https://www.amazon.com/Irreversible-Damage-Transgender-Seducing-Daughters/dp/1684510317
examines that female teenage cohort and possible reasons for growth.
Thread to distract from the madness.
https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1593765531366182912
that's not creepy 😕
Reminds me of the place of that dude played by Geoff Goldblum in one of the Marvel films (don't remember which one, Guardians of the Galaxy?)
Jeff the Grandmaster – Thor:Ragnarok
👍
NASA video showing monthly global temperature changes between 1880 and 2022.
https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/300/video-climate-spiral/