Will Slavoj Zizek be correct, that Trump will be so bad it will bring about the left revolution?
I suspect it’s more likely Dems will look at how far left they moved their platform because of pressure from Bernie, look at how hard-lefties still put more effort into bagging Clinton than fighting Trump and voted for Stein or stayed home, and conclude that trying to attract hard-lefties isn’t worth it. After all, Obama was quite centrist and look how popular he finished up.
And if they do ‘stay put’ as you seem to imply they will do, what do you think will happen, given that it appears that many younger voters are rejecting their essentially conservative approach? Do you think perhaps that after a substantial dose of Trumperism even the hard left will run back to mother? – Can’t see it myself!
I think the way hard-lefties didn’t support the Dems and Clinton even after they moved their platform a long way left is going to produce the really crap result of further reinforcing status quo politics and further reducing engagement and turnout, particularly among the young.
I can’t see the Dems emerging from the depths they have plunged to for a very long time. Imo they are corrupt to the core, just like the whole ” American Dream”.
Will Slavoj Zizek be correct, that Trump will be so bad it will bring about the left revolution?
No, he won’t. I hate these communist “After Hitler, us!” fucks. They’re happy to see right-wing authoritarian nationalists wrecking the country because the resulting cruelty and destabilisation may create the conditions for a boot stamping on a human face forever, sorry I meant a communist revolution.
.. do you mean the u.s.a boot stamping cruelty in south America and other places … under the guise of fighting communism ….. remember the u.s.a calls health systems like NZ has ‘communism’.
William Blum ‘killing hope’ : …… ” every socialist experiment of any significance in the twentieth century—without exception—has either been crushed, overthrown, or invaded, or corrupted, perverted, subverted, or destabilized, or otherwise had life made impossible for it, by the United States.
Not one socialist government or movement—from the Russian Revolution to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, from Communist China to the FMLN in Salvador—not one was permitted to rise or fall solely on its own merits; not one was left secure enough to drop its guard against the all-powerful enemy abroad and freely and fully relax control at home.
It’s as if the Wright brothers’ first experiments with flying machines all failed because the automobile interests sabotaged each test flight. And then the good and godfearing folk of the world looked upon this, took notice of the consequences, nodded their collective heads wisely, and intoned solemnly: Man shall never fly. ” …
“” By the summer of 1918 some 13,000 American troops could be found in the newly-born Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Two years and thousands of casualties later, the American troops left, having failed in their mission to “strangle at its birth” the Bolshevik state, as Winston Churchill put it.”
————————————————————————-
and John stockwell : …. ” President Reagan allocated 19 million dollars to form an army, a force of contras, they’re called, ex-Somoza national guards, the monsters who were doing the torture and terror in Nicaragua that made the Nicaraguan people rise up and throw out the dictator, and throw out the guard. We went back to create an army of these people. We are killing, and killing, and terrorizing people. Not only in Nicaragua but the Congress has leaked to the press – reported in the New York Times, that there are 50 covert actions going around the world today, CIA covert actions going on around the world today.
“[When the U.S. doesn’t like a government], they send the CIA in, with its resources and activists, hiring people, hiring agents, to tear apart the social and economic fabric of the country, as a technique for putting pressure on the government, hoping that they can make the government come to the U.S.’s terms, or the government will collapse altogether and they can engineer a coup d’etat, and have the thing wind up with their own choice of people in power.
Now ripping apart the economic and social fabric of course is fairly textbook-ish. What we’re talking about is going in and deliberately creating conditions where the farmer can’t get his produce to market, where children can’t go to school, where women are terrified inside their homes as well as outside their homes, where government administration and programs grind to a complete halt, where the hospitals are treating wounded people instead of sick people, where international capital is scared away and the country goes bankrupt. ”
“The Indonesian covert action of 1965, reported by Ralph McGehee, who was in that area division, and had documents on his desk, in his custody about that operation. He said that one of the documents concluded that this was a MODEL operation that should be COPIED elsewhere in the world. Not only did it eliminate the effective communist party (Indonesian communist party), it also eliminated the entire segment of the population that tended to support the communist party – the ethnic Chinese, Indonesian Chinese. And the CIA’s report put the number of dead at 800,000 killed. And that was one covert action. We’re talking about 1 to 3 million people killed in these things. ”
“”Just to give you an example of how complete this is, and how military this has been, between 1900 and W.W. II, we had 5,000 marines in Nicaragua for a total of 28 years. We invaded the Dominican Republic 4 times. Haiti, we occupied it for 12 years. We put our troops into Cuba 4 times, Panama 6 times, Guatemala once, plus a CIA covert action to overthrow the democratic government there once. Honduras, 7 times. And by the way, we put 12,000 troops into the Soviet Union during that same period of time.”
The Narcissistic Billionaire Trump can be criticized for many many things …. but it seems bizarre to me that stopping or lowering The U.s.a’s role in feeding these death-spots with weapons and support is one of them.
How many people are aware of the war against russia which started in 1918 ?
.. do you mean the u.s.a boot stamping cruelty in south America and other places …
No, I mean the people Orwell was actually referring to when he wrote that phrase. Still, kudos for the lengthy apologia for the worst totalitarian regimes in the world’s history – most people are too duplicitous or have too strong a sense of shame to be up-front about it.
“Washington policy makers and diplomats saw the world out there as one composed of “communists” and “anti-communists”, whether of nations, movements or individuals. This comic-strip vision of the world, with righteous American supermen fighting communist evil everywhere, had graduated from a cynical propaganda exercise to a moral imperative of US foreign policy.
John Foster Dulles, one of the major architects of post-war US foreign policy, expressed this succinctly in his typically simple, moralistic way: “For us there are two sorts of people in the world: there are those who are Christians and support free enterprise and there are the others.”14 As several of the case studies in the present hook confirm, Dulles put that creed into rigid practice.”
Over 2 million Vietnamese Killed…. freedom???
800,00-1.5 million Indonesians Murdered …. and a natural partner for NZ according to our nZ mfat webpage … Joshua Oppenheimer’s description of present day Indonesia … Where workers get threatened with the death squads that killed their parents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orD_WOrEN5o
And Sorry if I find John Stockwell,…. an ex cia officer …. to be more credible on cia/usa policy and actions …. than your opinions .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYZ_kWHk3Q
Nicaragua for Instance …….. “To destabilize Nicaragua beginning in 1981, we began funding this force of Somoza’s exnational guardsmen, calling them the contras (the counter-revolutionaries). We created this force, it did not exist until we allocated money. We’ve armed them, put uniforms on their backs, boots on their feet, given them camps in Honduras to live in, medical supplies, doctors, training, leadership, direction, as we’ve sent them in to de-stabilize Nicaragua.
They use terror. This is a technique that they’re using to traumatize the society so that it can’t function. I don’t mean to abuse you with verbal violence, but you have to understand what your government and its agents are doing. They go into villages, they haul out families. With the children forced to watch they castrate the father, they peel the skin off his face, they put a grenade in his mouth and pull the pin. With the children forced to watch they gang-rape the mother, and slash her breasts off. And sometimes for variety, they make the parents watch while they do these things to the children. This is nobody’s propaganda. There have been over 100,000 American witnesses for peace who have gone down there and they have filmed and photographed and witnessed these atrocities immediately after they’ve happened, and documented 13,000 people killed this way, mostly women and children. These are the activities done by these contras. The contras are the people president Reagan calls `freedom fighters’. He says they’re the moral equivalent of our founding fathers. ”
Sounds like Ukraine Banderist nazi methods if you ask me ….
You know the ones ….. resurrected and backed up by trade sanctions against their enemy’s … solidarity from little ol NZ
well you did say …. “kudos for the lengthy apologia for the worst totalitarian regimes in the world’s history – most people are too duplicitous or have too strong a sense of shame to be up-front about it.”
…are you unaware of approx 8000 unkraine SS officers given sanctuary and some even recruited by the us.a and other good guys after WWII??? …… Of the Banderist nazi flavor ….. some ended doing operations back home( killing/destroying ) …. and some taught torture.
Which brings me back to Nicaragua …. but I’d like to explore our/Nzs links with Indonesia more next time ….
Given our ‘natural partnership’ with them …. and the flurry of National party + business activity with this gangster nation ….before key made off …
********************************************
Ronny Raygun:”The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.”
“The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years.
The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution.
Sandinistas
The Sandinistas weren’t perfect.
They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements.
But they were intelligent, rational and civilised.
They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society.
The death penalty was abolished.
Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead.
Over 100,000 families were given title to land.
Two thousand schools were built.
A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh.
Free education was established and a free health service.
Infant mortality was reduced by a third.
Polio was eradicated.
Dangerous example was being set
The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion.
In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set.
If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things.
There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador.
I spoke earlier about ‘a tapestry of lies’ which surrounds us.
Taken generally by the media
President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a ‘totalitarian dungeon’.
This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment.
But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government.
There was no record of torture.
There was no record of systematic or official military brutality.
No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua.
There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary.
El Salvador and Guatemala
The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala.
The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships.
Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.
That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass.
It is estimated that 75,000 people died.
Why were they killed?
They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved.
That belief immediately qualified them as communists.
They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright.
Poverty stricken once again — ‘Democracy’ had prevailed
The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government.
It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people.
They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again.
The casinos moved back into the country.
Free health and free education were over.
Big business returned with a vengeance.
‘Democracy’ had prevailed.
But this ‘policy’ was by no means restricted to Central America.
It was conducted throughout the world.
Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
1984 Book 3, Chapter 3
And from Gustave Flaubert:
Inside every revolutionary there is a policeman.
I agree, ‘accelerationists’ as they are called are despicable – they’re happy to see other people suffer even more than they are now for the sake for the sake of the precious revolution, then jerk off over the thought of being in the Inner Party because they’re the ‘pure’ ones. If they want to burn a house down, they should start with their own.
So your take-home message from the large popularity of Sanders is to move the Democrats away from Sanders back toward what lost them the election.
Please go work for the Nats as a tactician.
Registered Democrats are the big leftie group in the US. Clinton won the primary by 55% to 43%. That’s a very clear margin, and a clear signal that leftie Americans were more comfortable with Clinton’s offerings than Sanders. Nevertheless, Clinton and the Democrats changed their platform to align more closely to Sanders’ platform. Then lost the general election. To Trump!!!! How does all of that add up to an argument the Dems should have gone even further away from the mainstream?
They didn’t lose the election because of the slight changes in platform, which did nothing to win voters in the rust belt – by comparison, Sanders’ platform would have been vastly more popular in the rust belt. That would come at a cost of votes in conservative states where he was losing anyway.
Gotta say that I’m not aware of anyone in the Dem pipeline that has quite the blindness about how their actions can be made to look that Hillary had, let alone doing that stuff while wearing the stains from 25 years of smears.
The overwhelming weakness of the left is a tendency to believe that if things only get a little worse, they will suddenly flip into a revolution that creates utopia.
Fuck Hegel.
Eager anticipation when things get worse is a clear conflict of interest to actually getting off your arse and improving things.
I’ve mostly thought the biggest weakness of left politics is a lot more lefties are into purity and principle politics to the point of being willing to vote for parties/candidates with no chance, even though it helps their polar opposite opponents win.
Whereas as righties seem to be a bit more pragmatic about voting for the possible winners closest to their views.
In New Zealand, just look at the peak vote for ACT (7% in 2002) and compare to pre-96 votes for say Greens or Alliance.
Thanks, will have a proper read later. I cam across something recently that said one of the core disagreements between Lange and Douglas was Douglas’ UBI proposal. Might be worth looking up to see the NZ neoliberal version.
An interesting read, Xanthe. This guy explores some of my gut-instinct feelings about the current push for a UBI. I do see this in effect becoming a subsidy for employers and landlords. Current policies such as WFF and accommodation grants for people on benefits also work this way, of course, but not in such a wholesale way.
I can’t say I’ve done a lot of research into the issue, and could still be convinced – there probably are models which address my concerns, but any move in this direction would need to be very strongly designed in order to achieve its goals rather than (perversely) acting as a transfer of wealth into the pockets of those who least need it.
He’s also a Fox News commentator accused of groping a female colleague – which makes it clear why he appeals to Trump, but that’s not exactly a great CV when it comes to dealing with New Zealanders.
I imagine for the US (for any administration), picking an ex Senator is seen as a good thing and an affirmation of the relationship.
Obama’s first Ambassador was an ex Senator.
Senators, even when they have lost elections, are usually highly regarded in the US political system. And the fact that he is a Fox commentator would be seen by the Trump administration as a demonstration of his connectedness in the political system.
However, I did not know about the groping accusation referred to by Psycho Milt.
I think it would be going too far to say “no” to him on that basis.
However, I would expect him to acknowledge that is not New Zealand’s view, and to recognise that he needs to adjust his position, given the strong New Zealand position on this.
It is worth recalling that in 2003/2004 that NZ SAS soldiers strongly protested about American treatment of detainees, and took the issue up the command chain.
Reason,
I strongly protest about what you have said about me. And by implication that National supports torture.
In relation to Afghanistan (your link) in fact I made sure we deployed additional legal officers to Afghanistan so we could ensure, as best we could, that any detainees that the CRU arrested were not ill-treated. This whole issue was a major concern for us. One of our goals during the deployment was to improve the behaviour of the CRU.
A general dilemma that all western nations faced in Afghanistan (in fact in any country where the West or the UN gets involved in) is that the Afghans did not act in accordance to the standards we would expect. NATO/ISAF put in a huge effort to with the Afghan authorities to improve respect for human rights, to improve their prisons and their legal system. Are they yet like out courts and prisons?
No, but they are way better than they used to be.
As a general point, no matter the divergence of view we may have on various things, I don’t think it is necessary to demonise one opponents like that.
I would expect him to acknowledge that is not New Zealand’s view, and to recognise that he needs to adjust his position,
For those that don’t have our back, we’re taking names.
The problem here is that your torturer mates aren’t from Afghanistan, and your desire to appease them looks a lot like being an accessory.
[lprent: You and AndreReason are starting to go too far. Whilst I have serious doubts about Brown as being inappropriate for NZ, you have to remember that he isn’t here to represent NZ. He is here to represent the USA.
If there was anything definitive in his history (for instance a conviction for groping a fellow Fox presenter) then at a government level we could (maybe) refuse to accept his credentials. However having opinions that are distasteful and obnoxious isn’t a ground for rejecting them. Ambassadors and ambassadorial staff are there for a purpose and are covered by some pretty specific law. We don’t have to like them, we just have to put up (with limits) what they say. ]
lprent, maybe I’m being thick but I’ve carefully re-read what I wrote and I don’t see where I’m near a line. I was genuinely interested in Wayne’s views on the waterboarding and potential rejection as ambassador issues, particularly given the positions he has held in his service to NZ, and didn’t attack him or anyone else. Now that Wayne has shared his views, I’m not inclined to have a go at him for those views.
I’d be grateful if you have the time to explain where I’m close to the line. Or perhaps there was some mix-up between what I said and what Reason said?
[lprent: You notice that I put the warning (from memory) on Reason who was over the line (as Wayne pointed out), and on OAB who was continuing the same theme. I may have copied it on an additional comment of yours? Your first one was ok and from memory Wayne treated it by explaining his opinion. Edit: Oh I see what you mean. I said Andre where I meant Reason. I will adjust. It is because I see the comments running in reverse time order…
However OAB and Reason were effectively saying that the personal actions and opinions of an ex-minister and national party member were those of the government and national party. They were doing it on a topic that even National and their government have little to no leeway on. The law covering diplomatic embassies is pretty draconian.
It amounted to pointless abuse of a person for something where there was absolutely no effective relationship between Wayne and what they were objecting to. It was liable to drop into even more pointless flaming. I intervened to make sure it didn’t escalate into a bullying flamewar I’d have to start banning people for. Like the policy says, we prefer to warn rather than ban.
With that kind of brushwar, I tend to put the warning on each branch of an issue to make sure that everyone is aware of an issue and has no excuse to work around it. That is because of the tree structure of our comments. It is far too easy to miss warnings as the debate branches. ]
Thanks. Your warning to OAB started “lprent: You and Andre are starting to go too far…”, so I take it it should have been reason there instead of me. I was worried maybe I was violating a policy about being too beige or something.
Yeah, unless I jump tabs, when I start editing (rather than quick edit) a comment on the backend comment list. I lose all context. I usually rely on memory. Screwed up this time..
Lprent. Thanks for the longer explanation. It’s Wayne’s opinion as a law commissioner I’m interested in, although I think it’s fair to say that many of the experiences he cites derive from his time as a Minister.
(Sorry to discuss you in the third person Wayne.)
I agree that Browne is the US representative here, and from the sounds of it, he represents POTUS quite well. What I’d like to know is where the line is, for establishment figures like Wayne. How far does the US have to descend before they would consider “cutting ties” (whatever that means to them). Or is there no line – for similar reasons to Hobbes’ dictum that the worst dictator is better than the alternative, or whatever.
I’ll try and be more polite in trying to find out.
I remember going through a rather horrendous set of lectures and readings in dual areas; about the history of diplomacy and the law governing diplomacy in the commonwealth and NZ. Some of those lessons came from my military training and lifelong interest in the military and military history – the application of which is often viewed as being the failures of diplomacy. Being born 14 years after WW2, I grew up in the shadow of the ex-servicemen where i could see the consequences of diplomatic failures.
What you realize after looking at it is that the primary reason for diplomats is to keep open lines of direct communication to stop various types of warfare (from weaponry to trade). The actual quality of the diplomats is of far less importance than that they can accurately reflect both parties to each other. That is because the consequences of miscommunication between monarchs and states will often tend to be somewhat horrendous.
As someone who did law, military and government somewhat more than I did, Wayne probably got a whole lot more of that particular set of horror stories than I did.
But my view is that diplomacy is one area that needs to be somewhat isolated from populist thinking so that it can concentrate on downstream consequences. Of course that is because I know somewhat more clearly what the downstream failures of diplomacy can be than most of the recent generations. But you only really need to reflect on the diplomatic miscommunication and the miscalculations that fell out of the diplomatic schism between the USA/UK and Iraq to see a recent example.
Global Legal Action Network and the Stanford International Human Rights Clinic have taken a case against Australia and various private companies to the ICC.
Should the case proceed, law enforcement officials in New Zealand may be put in the invidious position of having to protect visiting heads of state for whom there are outstanding international arrest warrants. As Idiot Savant has pointed out, these individuals would also be wanted under domestic law.
As someone with a foot in both diplomatic and legal camps, Wayne can shed some light on the practical issues that arise. I still reckon he’ll give them (torturers) a free pass.
PS: in case you’re wondering why I switched from the USA to Australia, the legal and ethical issues are similar: the practical and diplomatic considerations are slightly different.
Not that much. If they are coming under a diplomatic credentials/passport, then there will be bugger all that we could do except to deny their visa or reject their credentials and ship them home.
Visiting heads of state typically come under diplomatic credentials. We’d be more likely to deny entry if they had an ICC warrant.
It is pretty much the same rules as any diplomat, like that guy from the Malaysian embassy a few years ago. We can boot them but that is about all unless they or their country waive immunity.
The alternative for inter-state communication is that effectively every diplomat is a probable hostage. Because trumped up charges could be made for literally anything. Laws could be passed purely to entrap. And no-one would send diplomats anywhere.
If you want to see an example, have a look at the terrible economic price that Iran faced for more than 25 years (and arguably on to today) after a state mob stormed the US embassy in Tehran. Apart from the ongoing sanctions, they were literally starved on any significiant capital and were shunned during a major war that they barely survived.
After all who in the hell would want to send diplomats into the precedent hellhole that the Iranian revolution created.
People who are not currently travelling under diplomatic immunity are private citizens and are fair game. That is what happened to Pinochet and Dotcom. However a case to extradite has to be made under the laws of the arresting country.
But I can assure you we (NZDF and myself) put a lot of effort in trying to ensure fundamental human rights were protected in Afghanistan.
An interesting and insightful discussion on the role of Ambassadors by Iprent.
Presumably during the confirmation hearings Brown will have the opportunity to say the right thing. Surely as relatively senior JAG officer he must know the law in this area in detail. And he should be well informed by State of the New Zealand view.
I am certain the ICC will refuse jurisdiction in the Australian case. Whatever the Australian defaults, they do not reach the threshold required by the ICC.
“The Iraq War was an act of pure aggression, no different in moral or legal standing from Hitler’s invasion of Poland. That is what Bush and Blair made themselves. Small Hitlers, betraying all the hopes of the generation of 1945, which dreamed of forestalling further such atrocities.
Had the war been launched in response to Saddam Hussain’s own attack on Iran in 1980, and had there been a consensus at the UNSC for such a move, it could have been justified. But in 2003 there was no international emergency calling for such a war. The level of Western hypocrisy can be measured, however, by the lack of any move to punish Iraq for invading Iran and starting an 8-year war that killed hundreds of thousands. Worse yet, the Reagan administration actually swung behind Iraq in 1983, allied with Saddam, and shielded him from charges brought by Iran to the UNSC that he used mustard gas and perhaps Sarin on Iranian troops at the front. And then the Reagan administration authorized the sale to Iraq of precursors for anthrax. ”
And your wanting NZ not to be bound by international law … ” the fact remains that under international law, any non-defensive war waged without its approval is illegal and a crime. So when Wayne Mapp says he doesn’t want our foreign policy to be subject to a UN veto, what he is really saying is that he wants to wage war in contravention of international law and the UN charter – in other words, he wants us to be a rogue nation, just like the US… ”
I just presumed a little water boarding …. would be water of a ducks back among a few million dead Iraqis …or Afghans .
Don’t be so racist about the Afghans wayne ………… how come if they are naturally so bad …. how is it that Afghanistan was a safe place for women and others to travel too and through? …. in that the time before the usa armed Muslim extremists there ….
I don’t regard a person who has openly advocated torture methods like waterboarding is a suitable person to send to NZ, but I appreciate in Trump’s world it would be seen as a plus…
Would you like to back up that statement Joe, and or disprove the quote?
Repeated use of insults, no matter how much of a release from the issues you refer to in your life this blog provides you, is no excuse
[lprent: While we are on that subject – where is the source of that quotation? That was what you rightfully were pulled up on.
Since you objected to being pulled up, then I will object to you avoiding substantiating your out of context quote. Banned for 2 weeks. Read the policy and look at your own damn behaviour before trying to exercise moderator powers on this site. ]
However, I did not know about the groping accusation referred to by Psycho Milt.
One of his ex fellow Fox presenters has alleged that he groped her at work. She is suing Fox, him, and I believe several managerial staff at Fox both for the grope and that her complaint caused her bosses to push her out, She alleges that Fox is a hotbed of misogyny.
I can see how Trump might see groping female workmates as a plus. I can’t see how it would endear him to most of NZ.
Edit From the link that Anne put up
Former Fox News contributor Andrea Tantaros filed a complaint with the New York Supreme Court against the Fox News Network, its former president Roger Ailes and four others alleging sexual harassment.
She claims: “Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.”
Tantaros also mentions being groped by Brown in documents filed with the court.
“On or about August 18, 2015, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown appeared on (Fox panel show) Outnumbered.
“Brown made a number of sexually inappropriate comments to Tantaros on set, including, and in a suggestive manner, that Tantaros “would be fun to go to a nightclub with”.
“After the show was over, Brown snuck up behind Tantaros while she was purchasing lunch and put his hands on her lower waist. She immediately pulled back, telling Brown to ‘stop’.
“Tantaros then immediately met with (Fox News co-president Bill) Shine to complain, asking him to ensure that Brown would never be booked on the show again. Shine said that he would talk to Scott. Thereafter, Shine and Scott ignored Tantaros’s complaint, and continued to book Brown on Outnumbered.”
Tantaros also alleged she rejected the Ailes’ advances and was punished by being removed from Fox shows.
Brown has denied the allegations, and the lawsuit is ongoing.
Yes waterboarding is one enhanced interrogation technique – there are many other ones within that category. Brown endorsed them all not just waterboarding. This is important because when you search and read the list of what they do under enhanced interrogation techniques it will turn your stomach.
David Dunning of Dunning-Kruger effect fame reckons Trump is the most public example of the Dunning-Kruger effect he’s ever seen. Ouch.
In hindsight, this kind self-reflection may have been useful in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, when mentions of Dunning-Kruger on social media reached a new high. In the beginning, many of them were in reference to the candidate Donald Trump, whose combination of over the top blustering (“My IQ is one of the highest,” he has claimed) and obvious ignorance in areas such as foreign policy struck many Twitters users as, “the personification of the Dunning-Kruger effect.”
The 57-year-old supports torture, posed nude for a photoshoot, and was named as having groped and made sexually inappropriate comments towards by former Fox News contributor Andrea Tantaros. Brown denies the allegations.
May we should refuse to give him a visa because he is not fit and moral character.
Andrew Littles handling of the Willie Jackson selection/waiver debacle has finally lost the votes of myself and my wife. I’m a middle of the road swing voter and my wife is/was true Labour (she is a union rep). I change between parties but my wife has never even thought of anything but Labour. The biggest problem for Labour is I will never vote green and she may or may not. If Andrew is still looking for the missing million he can add one maybe two more to that number.
I detest swing voters. They’re even worse than National voters. Swing voters are fence-sitters, without the courage or conviction to stand by their principles.
I have always been a swing voter, you detest me? I don’t detest you muttonbird. Do you blindly follow one party no matter what policy they do or don’t produce?
My needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.
“My needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.”
Andrew, has it ever occurred to you to vote on the basis of others’ needs, and not just your own?
I’m less than thrilled by the Jackson selection. I do understand the reasoning behind it, though, and I would like to hear from the guy himself. Willie, if you’re out there, how about fronting up like Greg O’Connor and putting your side of the story? I would have questions for you and I’m sure others would too.
You don’t think they can establish a building program or raise taxes on the top?
I suggest you look at the expansion in the state housing stock during the period 1999-2008, the increase in the tax rate in 1999, and note that unemployment was at ~3% by 2007.
Did they fix everything? No. Have many indicators (everything from the rule of law to the infectious disease admission rate) declined since 2008? Yep. Are we getting mentioned in too many UN reports for all the wrong reasons? Yep.
Does the National Party care, let alone have the competence?
Make sure you also read the comments esp. the one from Stephen Ihaka. I still have many reservations about Willie but without he has done a lot for poor, urban Māori over the years.
I’m going to try and put a post up about that in the next day or so. I disagree with her evaluation of the relative treatments of Māori and Pākehā radio hosts (but based on memory, I haven’t gone back and looked), but more interesting to me is that I read her piece as an example of how Māori handle things differently than Pākehā. More willing to forgive and be understanding of frailty and find ways of being inclusive as part of the solution.
A lot of the arguments about WJ in the past few weeks look to me to have been (white) feminists arguing with (white) men over rape culture issues and how they play out in Pākehā cultures. Not that all the people arguing have been white, but that the discourse I saw has happened in predominantly Pākehā spaces and those values are there. If women had equitably shared power in Labour, this would have played out differently, and the whole thing is a showcase of the patriarchy within Labour, and the wider culture as much as anything. It’s the still relative powerlessness of women in Pākehā society that jumps out.
Good to have a wahine Māori perspective just to bring that into focus as well as just hear how it looks from that side.
One thing I am tired of though is this idea that a good person can’t be misogynistic in certain areas. We really need to get over that.
then there’s this, which is a very good example of exactly why so much is still made of the issue and will continue to be despite WJ’s other good works.
“Sean Plunket
@SeanPlunket
@etangata good piece. Way to much made of roastbusters affair willy was asking legit questions that reflected the position of many kiwis.”
My ongoing problem with Willie is that he still seems to play down the effect of homophobia, misogyny, rape culture etc although I do think he has more understanding now than in the past (I am mainly basing this on tweets from Alison Mau and comments made to me by a couple of Māori friends who know him well).
He is also a bit of a loose cannon and a better talker than he is a listener. These traits can cause more problems than they solve sometimes.
Translation: I am now wealthy enough that I can afford not to give a toss about the people who are struggling to get by. The Willie Jackson issue is a smokescreen to justify to myself voting National so I can stay wealthy, even though I know deep down that National are full of far worse people than Jackson and their policies are terrible for New Zealand as a whole.
@ Andrew (6.3.1) you state …
“my needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.”
This attitude is the reason we still have a National government. People voting for THEIR personal needs, with little thought as to what’s beneficial for the nation as a whole, is what’s destroying NZ.
If more voters gave considered attention to what’s best for their country in general, instead of themselves, NZ just might become a more egalitarian place for all Kiwis to live and enjoy.
Well here is an almighty one $Billion dollar Government stuff up. Joyce and Bridges are going to have egg on their faces over this;
“Transport blogger Patrick Reynolds said the purpose of the western ring route was to provide free-flowing traffic but it had been badly designed and would open to gridlock.”
“The reason for that is because of the failure to build parallel rapid transit. There is no busway,” Reynolds said.
“He claimed the ramp signals were being installed because of limitations on the ventilation system in the event of traffic coming to a standstill inside the tunnels.”
I recall Transport Minister Simon Bridges saying “the Waterview tunnel and ring route would be a faultless marvel” kind of thought at the time he would put the kiss of death on the ‘faultless’.
Bound to be hotly debated at the Mt Albert By-Election Transport Debate next Wednesday night.
There is no separated congestion-free busway on either North-Western or South-Western motorways like the one on the Northern motorway from Albany to the Harbour Bridge.
Buses have to merge back into clogged traffic at every overbridge where the shoulder lanes disappear. Transport agencies are only belatedly adding shoulder lanes to the SW motorway in any case.
Seems like another very expensive stuff-up like when the SW was first connected to the Southern motorways, requiring urgent remedial work to correct problems. The whole Western Ring Route from Manukau to Albany totals $4b, yet people have been giving its sub-projects a free pass and whinging instead about the core rail link budgeted at half that amount.
Akl has suffered under every single national govt when it comes to transport.
Muldoon wouldn’t finish the suburban rail network, Williamson sat by whilst Bolger and Shipley plundered the fuel and RUC charges to use elsewhere and now this mob.
Not only has the shonky reign screwed over public transport since day 1 it’s double whammied it by flooding akl with moneyed migrants.
Ad you should know by now that it’s not too far in the future for complete gridlock in Auckland. The situation deteriorates by the day. It’s very obvious to someone who travels into the city once or twice a month, and not on a daily basis. Over the past 2 – 3 years the traffic flows have become slower and slower and gridlocks occur at anytime of the day. The opening up of SH 20 at Waterview onto SH16 will simply sift the problem from one point to another.
Gridlocks are not necessarily caused by accidents. They invariably occur when too many vehicles all want to be in the same place at the same time – ie the roads become choked and cannot carry the number of vehicles wanting to use them. All over Auckland now this situation is occurring on a daily basis at almost any time of the day. It can take up to 2 hours now in the late afternoon to travel from Auckland airport to Pukekohe a distance of around 40 km.
Accidents of course exacerbate the problem.
Yes – a picture (or in this case video) is worth a thousand words.
That is what we are now experiencing daily on Auckland’s motorways. It’s obvious that what is really needed is not more motorways. What is needed is better public transport thereby relieving the pressure on over crowed motorways.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that they’re ramping up the conflict angle. The post I read was balanced and good-humoured, and the comments have had a similar tone. Hardly “taking aim at critics”. Plus the old chestnut “Labour-aligned bog”. Sigh…
Got to love the out going President of Bolivia. President Correa talks to Abby Martin, about what the last 9 years have meant for him, his administration, and the people of Bolivia.
Just a small correction. Correa is the outgoing president of Ecuador, not Bolivia. Evo Morales is the president of Bolivia. What is true is that in spite of some problems both Ecuador and Bolivia have done pretty well under Left rule.
The defense of qualified privilege permits persons in positions of authority or trust to make statements or relay or report statements that would be considered slander and libel if made by anyone else – Wikipedia.
“Emotionally fragile farmers still trying to rebuild their lives after the earthquake are at breaking point, with police having to confiscate guns for fear of self-harm.”
Often we think when things have tidied up after a traumatic event that people just get on with the job. But for many it just doesn’t work like that. It can take years if not a lifetime to work through some trauma and the fallout from it. Trauma has a cascading effect into relationships, self esteem, financial issues, motivation and depression and for most it takes expert help to navigate through these very dangerous shoals.
I know mental health resources are scarce and it can take severe behaviour to trigger them sometimes.
I suppose what I am saying is that if you know someone who may be affected then it is worthwhile offering a compassionate ear to listen to them – it is possible to validate how they are feeling without agreeing with what they are saying eg “It must be really difficult to be feeling that way.” At the bottom of the article are the links to the support services out there – they are important and necessary for helping people and they can help people.
rich, poor, famous, unknown, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, young, experienced, talented, loud, quiet – don’t be fooled into thinking some are not living in a very difficult place…
Interesting topic MM. I think people who have gone through trauma carry it with them for a long time. From what I’ve seen it’s often dealt with not by talking but its released through other outlets, violence, depression, anger, addictions. Especially men I think find it hard to discuss these/their issues and probably struggle with these things for longer.
I’m not sure what the answers are, a free availability of all kinds of mental health care would be great, getting it out front and centre would reduce the stigma of people too scared to go for help. Maybe also having a compulsory counsellor/psychotherapist always present and available at the local doctor’s practice, so anyone can drop in and know they can get mental health help at any time. That could also help with making people aware that going to the doctor is not about just physical health too. Integrate it so noone bats an eyelid.
To Levchin, prepping for survival is a moral miscalculation; he prefers to “shut down party conversations” on the topic. “I typically ask people, ‘So you’re worried about the pitchforks. How much money have you donated to your local homeless shelter?’ This connects the most, in my mind, to the realities of the income gap. All the other forms of fear that people bring up are artificial.” In his view, this is the time to invest in solutions, not escape. “At the moment, we’re actually at a relatively benign point of the economy. When the economy heads south, you will have a bunch of people that are in really bad shape. What do we expect then?”
[…]
By January, 2015, Johnson was sounding the alarm: the tensions produced by acute income inequality were becoming so pronounced that some of the world’s wealthiest people were taking steps to protect themselves. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Johnson told the audience, “I know hedge-fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway.”
I read quite a bit of stuff about Peter Thiel’s citizenship. It got all political, no surprise, and there were all sorts of angles, all sorts of pros and cons and explanations.
To sum all that up without the politics and put it into the sort of succinct reality that big business people like:
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
Will Slavoj Zizek be correct, that Trump will be so bad it will bring about the left revolution?
I suspect it’s more likely Dems will look at how far left they moved their platform because of pressure from Bernie, look at how hard-lefties still put more effort into bagging Clinton than fighting Trump and voted for Stein or stayed home, and conclude that trying to attract hard-lefties isn’t worth it. After all, Obama was quite centrist and look how popular he finished up.
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/18/out-of-darkness-light-will-the-trumpian-nightmare-lead-to-a-real-political-revolution-after-all/
And if they do ‘stay put’ as you seem to imply they will do, what do you think will happen, given that it appears that many younger voters are rejecting their essentially conservative approach? Do you think perhaps that after a substantial dose of Trumperism even the hard left will run back to mother? – Can’t see it myself!
I think the way hard-lefties didn’t support the Dems and Clinton even after they moved their platform a long way left is going to produce the really crap result of further reinforcing status quo politics and further reducing engagement and turnout, particularly among the young.
So do you think the growing number of disillusioned and disengaged will just continue to sit on the sidelines and grizzle?
Yep, mostly. But I hope I’m wrong.
I can’t see the Dems emerging from the depths they have plunged to for a very long time. Imo they are corrupt to the core, just like the whole ” American Dream”.
Will Slavoj Zizek be correct, that Trump will be so bad it will bring about the left revolution?
No, he won’t. I hate these communist “After Hitler, us!” fucks. They’re happy to see right-wing authoritarian nationalists wrecking the country because the resulting cruelty and destabilisation may create the conditions for a boot stamping on a human face forever, sorry I meant a communist revolution.
.. do you mean the u.s.a boot stamping cruelty in south America and other places … under the guise of fighting communism ….. remember the u.s.a calls health systems like NZ has ‘communism’.
William Blum ‘killing hope’ : …… ” every socialist experiment of any significance in the twentieth century—without exception—has either been crushed, overthrown, or invaded, or corrupted, perverted, subverted, or destabilized, or otherwise had life made impossible for it, by the United States.
Not one socialist government or movement—from the Russian Revolution to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, from Communist China to the FMLN in Salvador—not one was permitted to rise or fall solely on its own merits; not one was left secure enough to drop its guard against the all-powerful enemy abroad and freely and fully relax control at home.
It’s as if the Wright brothers’ first experiments with flying machines all failed because the automobile interests sabotaged each test flight. And then the good and godfearing folk of the world looked upon this, took notice of the consequences, nodded their collective heads wisely, and intoned solemnly: Man shall never fly. ” …
“” By the summer of 1918 some 13,000 American troops could be found in the newly-born Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Two years and thousands of casualties later, the American troops left, having failed in their mission to “strangle at its birth” the Bolshevik state, as Winston Churchill put it.”
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and John stockwell : …. ” President Reagan allocated 19 million dollars to form an army, a force of contras, they’re called, ex-Somoza national guards, the monsters who were doing the torture and terror in Nicaragua that made the Nicaraguan people rise up and throw out the dictator, and throw out the guard. We went back to create an army of these people. We are killing, and killing, and terrorizing people. Not only in Nicaragua but the Congress has leaked to the press – reported in the New York Times, that there are 50 covert actions going around the world today, CIA covert actions going on around the world today.
You have to be asking yourself, why are we destabilizing 50 corners of the troubled world”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYZ_kWHk3Q
“[When the U.S. doesn’t like a government], they send the CIA in, with its resources and activists, hiring people, hiring agents, to tear apart the social and economic fabric of the country, as a technique for putting pressure on the government, hoping that they can make the government come to the U.S.’s terms, or the government will collapse altogether and they can engineer a coup d’etat, and have the thing wind up with their own choice of people in power.
Now ripping apart the economic and social fabric of course is fairly textbook-ish. What we’re talking about is going in and deliberately creating conditions where the farmer can’t get his produce to market, where children can’t go to school, where women are terrified inside their homes as well as outside their homes, where government administration and programs grind to a complete halt, where the hospitals are treating wounded people instead of sick people, where international capital is scared away and the country goes bankrupt. ”
“The Indonesian covert action of 1965, reported by Ralph McGehee, who was in that area division, and had documents on his desk, in his custody about that operation. He said that one of the documents concluded that this was a MODEL operation that should be COPIED elsewhere in the world. Not only did it eliminate the effective communist party (Indonesian communist party), it also eliminated the entire segment of the population that tended to support the communist party – the ethnic Chinese, Indonesian Chinese. And the CIA’s report put the number of dead at 800,000 killed. And that was one covert action. We’re talking about 1 to 3 million people killed in these things. ”
“”Just to give you an example of how complete this is, and how military this has been, between 1900 and W.W. II, we had 5,000 marines in Nicaragua for a total of 28 years. We invaded the Dominican Republic 4 times. Haiti, we occupied it for 12 years. We put our troops into Cuba 4 times, Panama 6 times, Guatemala once, plus a CIA covert action to overthrow the democratic government there once. Honduras, 7 times. And by the way, we put 12,000 troops into the Soviet Union during that same period of time.”
The Narcissistic Billionaire Trump can be criticized for many many things …. but it seems bizarre to me that stopping or lowering The U.s.a’s role in feeding these death-spots with weapons and support is one of them.
How many people are aware of the war against russia which started in 1918 ?
How many russians would know ?
.. do you mean the u.s.a boot stamping cruelty in south America and other places …
No, I mean the people Orwell was actually referring to when he wrote that phrase. Still, kudos for the lengthy apologia for the worst totalitarian regimes in the world’s history – most people are too duplicitous or have too strong a sense of shame to be up-front about it.
You quote Orwell …. in a cartoonist way
“Washington policy makers and diplomats saw the world out there as one composed of “communists” and “anti-communists”, whether of nations, movements or individuals. This comic-strip vision of the world, with righteous American supermen fighting communist evil everywhere, had graduated from a cynical propaganda exercise to a moral imperative of US foreign policy.
John Foster Dulles, one of the major architects of post-war US foreign policy, expressed this succinctly in his typically simple, moralistic way: “For us there are two sorts of people in the world: there are those who are Christians and support free enterprise and there are the others.”14 As several of the case studies in the present hook confirm, Dulles put that creed into rigid practice.”
Over 2 million Vietnamese Killed…. freedom???
800,00-1.5 million Indonesians Murdered …. and a natural partner for NZ according to our nZ mfat webpage … Joshua Oppenheimer’s description of present day Indonesia … Where workers get threatened with the death squads that killed their parents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orD_WOrEN5o
South America …. running drugs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIVbFhVYB64
And Sorry if I find John Stockwell,…. an ex cia officer …. to be more credible on cia/usa policy and actions …. than your opinions .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYZ_kWHk3Q
Nicaragua for Instance …….. “To destabilize Nicaragua beginning in 1981, we began funding this force of Somoza’s exnational guardsmen, calling them the contras (the counter-revolutionaries). We created this force, it did not exist until we allocated money. We’ve armed them, put uniforms on their backs, boots on their feet, given them camps in Honduras to live in, medical supplies, doctors, training, leadership, direction, as we’ve sent them in to de-stabilize Nicaragua.
They use terror. This is a technique that they’re using to traumatize the society so that it can’t function. I don’t mean to abuse you with verbal violence, but you have to understand what your government and its agents are doing. They go into villages, they haul out families. With the children forced to watch they castrate the father, they peel the skin off his face, they put a grenade in his mouth and pull the pin. With the children forced to watch they gang-rape the mother, and slash her breasts off. And sometimes for variety, they make the parents watch while they do these things to the children. This is nobody’s propaganda. There have been over 100,000 American witnesses for peace who have gone down there and they have filmed and photographed and witnessed these atrocities immediately after they’ve happened, and documented 13,000 people killed this way, mostly women and children. These are the activities done by these contras. The contras are the people president Reagan calls `freedom fighters’. He says they’re the moral equivalent of our founding fathers. ”
Sounds like Ukraine Banderist nazi methods if you ask me ….
You know the ones ….. resurrected and backed up by trade sanctions against their enemy’s … solidarity from little ol NZ
Another natural partner perhaps ?
Sounds like Ukraine Banderist nazi methods if you ask me ….
No-one did. But you do get today’s High Score for false equivalence.
well you did say …. “kudos for the lengthy apologia for the worst totalitarian regimes in the world’s history – most people are too duplicitous or have too strong a sense of shame to be up-front about it.”
…are you unaware of approx 8000 unkraine SS officers given sanctuary and some even recruited by the us.a and other good guys after WWII??? …… Of the Banderist nazi flavor ….. some ended doing operations back home( killing/destroying ) …. and some taught torture.
Which brings me back to Nicaragua …. but I’d like to explore our/Nzs links with Indonesia more next time ….
Given our ‘natural partnership’ with them …. and the flurry of National party + business activity with this gangster nation ….before key made off …
********************************************
Ronny Raygun:”The Contras are the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers.”
http://thewe.cc/contents/more/archive2006/torture_death_and_nicaragua.htm
“The United States supported the brutal Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua for over 40 years.
The Nicaraguan people, led by the Sandinistas, overthrew this regime in 1979, a breathtaking popular revolution.
Sandinistas
The Sandinistas weren’t perfect.
They possessed their fair share of arrogance and their political philosophy contained a number of contradictory elements.
But they were intelligent, rational and civilised.
They set out to establish a stable, decent, pluralistic society.
The death penalty was abolished.
Hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken peasants were brought back from the dead.
Over 100,000 families were given title to land.
Two thousand schools were built.
A quite remarkable literacy campaign reduced illiteracy in the country to less than one seventh.
Free education was established and a free health service.
Infant mortality was reduced by a third.
Polio was eradicated.
Dangerous example was being set
The United States denounced these achievements as Marxist/Leninist subversion.
In the view of the US government, a dangerous example was being set.
If Nicaragua was allowed to establish basic norms of social and economic justice, if it was allowed to raise the standards of health care and education and achieve social unity and national self respect, neighbouring countries would ask the same questions and do the same things.
There was of course at the time fierce resistance to the status quo in El Salvador.
I spoke earlier about ‘a tapestry of lies’ which surrounds us.
Taken generally by the media
President Reagan commonly described Nicaragua as a ‘totalitarian dungeon’.
This was taken generally by the media, and certainly by the British government, as accurate and fair comment.
But there was in fact no record of death squads under the Sandinista government.
There was no record of torture.
There was no record of systematic or official military brutality.
No priests were ever murdered in Nicaragua.
There were in fact three priests in the government, two Jesuits and a Maryknoll missionary.
El Salvador and Guatemala
The totalitarian dungeons were actually next door, in El Salvador and Guatemala.
The United States had brought down the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 and it is estimated that over 200,000 people had been victims of successive military dictatorships.
Six of the most distinguished Jesuits in the world were viciously murdered at the Central American University in San Salvador in 1989 by a battalion of the Alcatl regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.
That extremely brave man Archbishop Romero was assassinated while saying mass.
It is estimated that 75,000 people died.
Why were they killed?
They were killed because they believed a better life was possible and should be achieved.
That belief immediately qualified them as communists.
They died because they dared to question the status quo, the endless plateau of poverty, disease, degradation and oppression, which had been their birthright.
Poverty stricken once again — ‘Democracy’ had prevailed
The United States finally brought down the Sandinista government.
It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people.
They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again.
The casinos moved back into the country.
Free health and free education were over.
Big business returned with a vengeance.
‘Democracy’ had prevailed.
But this ‘policy’ was by no means restricted to Central America.
It was conducted throughout the world.
It was never-ending.
And it is as if it never happened. ”
http://thewe.cc/contents/more/archive2006/torture_death_and_nicaragua.htm
whose shameless?????
My Grandfather got sent to war and fought the Nazis …. Unlike you he knew what to do with them.
It would be a disgrace to shut up and now pretend there are good nazis …. like some do.
Mind you, I doubt he went to war so a sleaze like Key could sell out his great grand-kids futures either ….
Another quote from Orwell that seems appropriate:
Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
1984 Book 3, Chapter 3
And from Gustave Flaubert:
Inside every revolutionary there is a policeman.
I agree, ‘accelerationists’ as they are called are despicable – they’re happy to see other people suffer even more than they are now for the sake for the sake of the precious revolution, then jerk off over the thought of being in the Inner Party because they’re the ‘pure’ ones. If they want to burn a house down, they should start with their own.
So your take-home message from the large popularity of Sanders is to move the Democrats away from Sanders back toward what lost them the election.
Please go work for the Nats as a tactician.
Registered Democrats are the big leftie group in the US. Clinton won the primary by 55% to 43%. That’s a very clear margin, and a clear signal that leftie Americans were more comfortable with Clinton’s offerings than Sanders. Nevertheless, Clinton and the Democrats changed their platform to align more closely to Sanders’ platform. Then lost the general election. To Trump!!!! How does all of that add up to an argument the Dems should have gone even further away from the mainstream?
They didn’t lose the election because of the slight changes in platform, which did nothing to win voters in the rust belt – by comparison, Sanders’ platform would have been vastly more popular in the rust belt. That would come at a cost of votes in conservative states where he was losing anyway.
The dems might consider supporting an honest unentangled candidate.
Or not.
Gotta say that I’m not aware of anyone in the Dem pipeline that has quite the blindness about how their actions can be made to look that Hillary had, let alone doing that stuff while wearing the stains from 25 years of smears.
The overwhelming weakness of the left is a tendency to believe that if things only get a little worse, they will suddenly flip into a revolution that creates utopia.
Fuck Hegel.
Eager anticipation when things get worse is a clear conflict of interest to actually getting off your arse and improving things.
I’ve mostly thought the biggest weakness of left politics is a lot more lefties are into purity and principle politics to the point of being willing to vote for parties/candidates with no chance, even though it helps their polar opposite opponents win.
Whereas as righties seem to be a bit more pragmatic about voting for the possible winners closest to their views.
In New Zealand, just look at the peak vote for ACT (7% in 2002) and compare to pre-96 votes for say Greens or Alliance.
That is another big issue, too
This is interesting, how a UBI could go wrong
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Basic-Income-as-a-Neoliberal-Weapon-20170217-0009.html
Thanks, will have a proper read later. I cam across something recently that said one of the core disagreements between Lange and Douglas was Douglas’ UBI proposal. Might be worth looking up to see the NZ neoliberal version.
An interesting read, Xanthe. This guy explores some of my gut-instinct feelings about the current push for a UBI. I do see this in effect becoming a subsidy for employers and landlords. Current policies such as WFF and accommodation grants for people on benefits also work this way, of course, but not in such a wholesale way.
I can’t say I’ve done a lot of research into the issue, and could still be convinced – there probably are models which address my concerns, but any move in this direction would need to be very strongly designed in order to achieve its goals rather than (perversely) acting as a transfer of wealth into the pockets of those who least need it.
Trump’s pick for diplomatic posting an “insult to NZ”.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89560459/its-an-insult-backlash-against-trumps-pick-for-diplomatic-post-to-new-zealand
He’s also a Fox News commentator accused of groping a female colleague – which makes it clear why he appeals to Trump, but that’s not exactly a great CV when it comes to dealing with New Zealanders.
I imagine for the US (for any administration), picking an ex Senator is seen as a good thing and an affirmation of the relationship.
Obama’s first Ambassador was an ex Senator.
Senators, even when they have lost elections, are usually highly regarded in the US political system. And the fact that he is a Fox commentator would be seen by the Trump administration as a demonstration of his connectedness in the political system.
However, I did not know about the groping accusation referred to by Psycho Milt.
Wayne, how do you feel about Brown’s reported enthusiasm for waterboarding?
Any view on Jonathan Milne’s opinion that Brown’s support of waterboarding is a good reason for New Zealand to say no, we don’t accept him?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/89507191/jonathan-milne-if-we-as-a-nation-find-senator-scott-browns-actions-abhorrent-we-can-do-more-than-talk–we-can-say-no
Andre,
I think it would be going too far to say “no” to him on that basis.
However, I would expect him to acknowledge that is not New Zealand’s view, and to recognise that he needs to adjust his position, given the strong New Zealand position on this.
It is worth recalling that in 2003/2004 that NZ SAS soldiers strongly protested about American treatment of detainees, and took the issue up the command chain.
Reason,
I strongly protest about what you have said about me. And by implication that National supports torture.
In relation to Afghanistan (your link) in fact I made sure we deployed additional legal officers to Afghanistan so we could ensure, as best we could, that any detainees that the CRU arrested were not ill-treated. This whole issue was a major concern for us. One of our goals during the deployment was to improve the behaviour of the CRU.
A general dilemma that all western nations faced in Afghanistan (in fact in any country where the West or the UN gets involved in) is that the Afghans did not act in accordance to the standards we would expect. NATO/ISAF put in a huge effort to with the Afghan authorities to improve respect for human rights, to improve their prisons and their legal system. Are they yet like out courts and prisons?
No, but they are way better than they used to be.
As a general point, no matter the divergence of view we may have on various things, I don’t think it is necessary to demonise one opponents like that.
You’re out of touch.
I would expect him to acknowledge that is not New Zealand’s view, and to recognise that he needs to adjust his position,
The problem here is that your torturer mates aren’t from Afghanistan, and your desire to appease them looks a lot like being an accessory.
[lprent: You and
AndreReason are starting to go too far. Whilst I have serious doubts about Brown as being inappropriate for NZ, you have to remember that he isn’t here to represent NZ. He is here to represent the USA.If there was anything definitive in his history (for instance a conviction for groping a fellow Fox presenter) then at a government level we could (maybe) refuse to accept his credentials. However having opinions that are distasteful and obnoxious isn’t a ground for rejecting them. Ambassadors and ambassadorial staff are there for a purpose and are covered by some pretty specific law. We don’t have to like them, we just have to put up (with limits) what they say. ]
OAB,
Did you not read or understand my comment. I expect Brown to change his position on this issue.
When he doesn’t, you will advocate appeasement.
[lprent: See my note above. ]
Lprent, I’m more interested in Wayne’s movable feast of ethics than Brown’s. Warning noted.
lprent, maybe I’m being thick but I’ve carefully re-read what I wrote and I don’t see where I’m near a line. I was genuinely interested in Wayne’s views on the waterboarding and potential rejection as ambassador issues, particularly given the positions he has held in his service to NZ, and didn’t attack him or anyone else. Now that Wayne has shared his views, I’m not inclined to have a go at him for those views.
I’d be grateful if you have the time to explain where I’m close to the line. Or perhaps there was some mix-up between what I said and what Reason said?
[lprent: You notice that I put the warning (from memory) on Reason who was over the line (as Wayne pointed out), and on OAB who was continuing the same theme. I may have copied it on an additional comment of yours? Your first one was ok and from memory Wayne treated it by explaining his opinion. Edit: Oh I see what you mean. I said Andre where I meant Reason. I will adjust. It is because I see the comments running in reverse time order…
However OAB and Reason were effectively saying that the personal actions and opinions of an ex-minister and national party member were those of the government and national party. They were doing it on a topic that even National and their government have little to no leeway on. The law covering diplomatic embassies is pretty draconian.
It amounted to pointless abuse of a person for something where there was absolutely no effective relationship between Wayne and what they were objecting to. It was liable to drop into even more pointless flaming. I intervened to make sure it didn’t escalate into a bullying flamewar I’d have to start banning people for. Like the policy says, we prefer to warn rather than ban.
With that kind of brushwar, I tend to put the warning on each branch of an issue to make sure that everyone is aware of an issue and has no excuse to work around it. That is because of the tree structure of our comments. It is far too easy to miss warnings as the debate branches. ]
Thanks. Your warning to OAB started “lprent: You and Andre are starting to go too far…”, so I take it it should have been reason there instead of me. I was worried maybe I was violating a policy about being too beige or something.
Yeah, unless I jump tabs, when I start editing (rather than quick edit) a comment on the backend comment list. I lose all context. I usually rely on memory. Screwed up this time..
Lprent. Thanks for the longer explanation. It’s Wayne’s opinion as a law commissioner I’m interested in, although I think it’s fair to say that many of the experiences he cites derive from his time as a Minister.
(Sorry to discuss you in the third person Wayne.)
I agree that Browne is the US representative here, and from the sounds of it, he represents POTUS quite well. What I’d like to know is where the line is, for establishment figures like Wayne. How far does the US have to descend before they would consider “cutting ties” (whatever that means to them). Or is there no line – for similar reasons to Hobbes’ dictum that the worst dictator is better than the alternative, or whatever.
I’ll try and be more polite in trying to find out.
I remember going through a rather horrendous set of lectures and readings in dual areas; about the history of diplomacy and the law governing diplomacy in the commonwealth and NZ. Some of those lessons came from my military training and lifelong interest in the military and military history – the application of which is often viewed as being the failures of diplomacy. Being born 14 years after WW2, I grew up in the shadow of the ex-servicemen where i could see the consequences of diplomatic failures.
What you realize after looking at it is that the primary reason for diplomats is to keep open lines of direct communication to stop various types of warfare (from weaponry to trade). The actual quality of the diplomats is of far less importance than that they can accurately reflect both parties to each other. That is because the consequences of miscommunication between monarchs and states will often tend to be somewhat horrendous.
As someone who did law, military and government somewhat more than I did, Wayne probably got a whole lot more of that particular set of horror stories than I did.
But my view is that diplomacy is one area that needs to be somewhat isolated from populist thinking so that it can concentrate on downstream consequences. Of course that is because I know somewhat more clearly what the downstream failures of diplomacy can be than most of the recent generations. But you only really need to reflect on the diplomatic miscommunication and the miscalculations that fell out of the diplomatic schism between the USA/UK and Iraq to see a recent example.
Perhaps “cutting ties” is a poor choice of words.
Global Legal Action Network and the Stanford International Human Rights Clinic have taken a case against Australia and various private companies to the ICC.
Should the case proceed, law enforcement officials in New Zealand may be put in the invidious position of having to protect visiting heads of state for whom there are outstanding international arrest warrants. As Idiot Savant has pointed out, these individuals would also be wanted under domestic law.
As someone with a foot in both diplomatic and legal camps, Wayne can shed some light on the practical issues that arise. I still reckon he’ll give them (torturers) a free pass.
PS: in case you’re wondering why I switched from the USA to Australia, the legal and ethical issues are similar: the practical and diplomatic considerations are slightly different.
Not that much. If they are coming under a diplomatic credentials/passport, then there will be bugger all that we could do except to deny their visa or reject their credentials and ship them home.
Visiting heads of state typically come under diplomatic credentials. We’d be more likely to deny entry if they had an ICC warrant.
It is pretty much the same rules as any diplomat, like that guy from the Malaysian embassy a few years ago. We can boot them but that is about all unless they or their country waive immunity.
The alternative for inter-state communication is that effectively every diplomat is a probable hostage. Because trumped up charges could be made for literally anything. Laws could be passed purely to entrap. And no-one would send diplomats anywhere.
If you want to see an example, have a look at the terrible economic price that Iran faced for more than 25 years (and arguably on to today) after a state mob stormed the US embassy in Tehran. Apart from the ongoing sanctions, they were literally starved on any significiant capital and were shunned during a major war that they barely survived.
After all who in the hell would want to send diplomats into the precedent hellhole that the Iranian revolution created.
People who are not currently travelling under diplomatic immunity are private citizens and are fair game. That is what happened to Pinochet and Dotcom. However a case to extradite has to be made under the laws of the arresting country.
That’s true..
But didn’t stop the US border officials stopping the ex Norwegian PM travelling on a diplomatic passport to a prayer meeting in the US because he had visited Iran on a humanitarian visit a few years back..
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/03/former-norway-pm-bondevik-held-washington-dulles-airport-2014-visit-iran
What’s good for the goose….
OAB
I really don’t have any more to add.
But I can assure you we (NZDF and myself) put a lot of effort in trying to ensure fundamental human rights were protected in Afghanistan.
An interesting and insightful discussion on the role of Ambassadors by Iprent.
Presumably during the confirmation hearings Brown will have the opportunity to say the right thing. Surely as relatively senior JAG officer he must know the law in this area in detail. And he should be well informed by State of the New Zealand view.
I am certain the ICC will refuse jurisdiction in the Australian case. Whatever the Australian defaults, they do not reach the threshold required by the ICC.
Sorry Lprent …..
good on you wayne… for your strong protest…. about you , the nats and torture…………. I legally accept your plausible deniability
Its a shame about the mass amounts of torture and brutal killing of civilians that have directly resulted from the bits of war you do support ….
………..http://www.juancole.com/2016/07/real-problem-illegal.html
“The Iraq War was an act of pure aggression, no different in moral or legal standing from Hitler’s invasion of Poland. That is what Bush and Blair made themselves. Small Hitlers, betraying all the hopes of the generation of 1945, which dreamed of forestalling further such atrocities.
Had the war been launched in response to Saddam Hussain’s own attack on Iran in 1980, and had there been a consensus at the UNSC for such a move, it could have been justified. But in 2003 there was no international emergency calling for such a war. The level of Western hypocrisy can be measured, however, by the lack of any move to punish Iraq for invading Iran and starting an 8-year war that killed hundreds of thousands. Worse yet, the Reagan administration actually swung behind Iraq in 1983, allied with Saddam, and shielded him from charges brought by Iran to the UNSC that he used mustard gas and perhaps Sarin on Iranian troops at the front. And then the Reagan administration authorized the sale to Iraq of precursors for anthrax. ”
And your wanting NZ not to be bound by international law … ” the fact remains that under international law, any non-defensive war waged without its approval is illegal and a crime. So when Wayne Mapp says he doesn’t want our foreign policy to be subject to a UN veto, what he is really saying is that he wants to wage war in contravention of international law and the UN charter – in other words, he wants us to be a rogue nation, just like the US… ”
I just presumed a little water boarding …. would be water of a ducks back among a few million dead Iraqis …or Afghans .
Don’t be so racist about the Afghans wayne ………… how come if they are naturally so bad …. how is it that Afghanistan was a safe place for women and others to travel too and through? …. in that the time before the usa armed Muslim extremists there ….
It was on the hippy trail and a nice country http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/03/11/road-trip-to-afghanistan-snapshots-from-the-lost-hippie-trail/
Apart from bombs, shells and troops …. the usa brought the ‘Phoenix /El Salvador option’ to Iraq and Afghanistan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN4Sn5u_pK0
very very nasty stuff …. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHEI603bF4
My research has found that vicious dog handlers were in big demand and paid very well in Iraq post invasion …..
Given all the torture and prisoner abuse ……… should mark Mitchell clear up exactly what he was doing over there earning his money ….
Just so we know Mike Sabins replacement is squeaky clean ..
….. after that whale oil email in Nicky Hagers ‘Dirty Politics” book ….something about ‘bite em till they scream’
Mark Mitchell said he was gong to sue ………………… http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10429236/MP-considers-legal-action-against-Nicky-Hager
Any info on that? …. or Judith … I think she threatened to sue too ?
I don’t regard a person who has openly advocated torture methods like waterboarding is a suitable person to send to NZ, but I appreciate in Trump’s world it would be seen as a plus…
Barack Obama…
“..We tortured some folks”…
Dishonest cocksplat quote mines.
Would you like to back up that statement Joe, and or disprove the quote?
Repeated use of insults, no matter how much of a release from the issues you refer to in your life this blog provides you, is no excuse
[lprent: While we are on that subject – where is the source of that quotation? That was what you rightfully were pulled up on.
Since you objected to being pulled up, then I will object to you avoiding substantiating your out of context quote. Banned for 2 weeks. Read the policy and look at your own damn behaviour before trying to exercise moderator powers on this site. ]
Incomplete citation is technique used by the dishonest.
Joe’s right: what you did is called “quote mining”, and is a form of lying. Hence “dishonest”.
Did you think no-one would notice?
cocksplat? Nice one.
Browns endorsement of torture, would make him not suitable for most NZ citizens ..
He would be ok by the Nats …
And perfect to someone like wayne …. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=mapp%2Btorture
… there might even be a trade deal in it.
[lprent: see my note above ]
One of his ex fellow Fox presenters has alleged that he groped her at work. She is suing Fox, him, and I believe several managerial staff at Fox both for the grope and that her complaint caused her bosses to push her out, She alleges that Fox is a hotbed of misogyny.
I can see how Trump might see groping female workmates as a plus. I can’t see how it would endear him to most of NZ.
Edit From the link that Anne put up
Yes waterboarding is one enhanced interrogation technique – there are many other ones within that category. Brown endorsed them all not just waterboarding. This is important because when you search and read the list of what they do under enhanced interrogation techniques it will turn your stomach.
He sounds like just the man to represent the current US administration. He has it all!
/sarc
Sorry, a little late to the discussion. Since I was cited in the article about Mr. Brown here is a more detailed elaboration of my views on his possible nomination: http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2017/02/where-to-draw-the-line/
Readers wil note that there is a cautionary tale for Wayne at the end of my post, given his position during the period the IG is looking at.
David Dunning of Dunning-Kruger effect fame reckons Trump is the most public example of the Dunning-Kruger effect he’s ever seen. Ouch.
In hindsight, this kind self-reflection may have been useful in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election, when mentions of Dunning-Kruger on social media reached a new high. In the beginning, many of them were in reference to the candidate Donald Trump, whose combination of over the top blustering (“My IQ is one of the highest,” he has claimed) and obvious ignorance in areas such as foreign policy struck many Twitters users as, “the personification of the Dunning-Kruger effect.”
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/01/why-donald-trump-will-be-the-dunning-kruger-president.html?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89560459/its-an-insult-backlash-against-trumps-pick-for-diplomatic-post-to-new-zealand
Does he need a visa to travel to US territory? They’d just put him in the diplomatic bag 🙂
Andrew Littles handling of the Willie Jackson selection/waiver debacle has finally lost the votes of myself and my wife. I’m a middle of the road swing voter and my wife is/was true Labour (she is a union rep). I change between parties but my wife has never even thought of anything but Labour. The biggest problem for Labour is I will never vote green and she may or may not. If Andrew is still looking for the missing million he can add one maybe two more to that number.
Why will you never vote Green?
My personal dealings with the Greens have been arduous. I won’t go into specifics but I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.
Oh, well done, Andrew. One issue, the selection of a mouth as a candidate has put you off voting Labour. Great.
So you’d rather have another three years of the most appalling government this country has had since the last National government.
And very likely you will not even be in the same electorate as Willie. But take your principled stand – and suffer the consequences.
You give short-sightedness a whole new dimension!
It’s not one issue Tony, for me it’s the culmination of scores of issues. For my wife however, I believe it does rest on the Willie Jackson issue.
@ Andrew
I would be interested to see a list of the “scores of issues” you refer to
I detest swing voters. They’re even worse than National voters. Swing voters are fence-sitters, without the courage or conviction to stand by their principles.
I have always been a swing voter, you detest me? I don’t detest you muttonbird. Do you blindly follow one party no matter what policy they do or don’t produce?
My needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.
“My needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.”
Andrew, has it ever occurred to you to vote on the basis of others’ needs, and not just your own?
I’m less than thrilled by the Jackson selection. I do understand the reasoning behind it, though, and I would like to hear from the guy himself. Willie, if you’re out there, how about fronting up like Greg O’Connor and putting your side of the story? I would have questions for you and I’m sure others would too.
Can you give an example or two of Labour policies which will help the Country. I’m struggling to find any I think would work.
You don’t think they can establish a building program or raise taxes on the top?
I suggest you look at the expansion in the state housing stock during the period 1999-2008, the increase in the tax rate in 1999, and note that unemployment was at ~3% by 2007.
Did they fix everything? No. Have many indicators (everything from the rule of law to the infectious disease admission rate) declined since 2008? Yep. Are we getting mentioned in too many UN reports for all the wrong reasons? Yep.
Does the National Party care, let alone have the competence?
Three years free tertiary education 😀 I firmly believe that will work.
The career development plan and the Future of Work Commission.
I just want ‘value’ for my tax dollars, not bailouts, not ministry overspending or mismanagement . I want an educated society/community. That’s what’s important to me.
Red-blooded –
Re Willie Jackson you may find the piece from Moana Maniapoto in today’s
e-tangata interesting:
http://e-tangata.co.nz/news/moana-maniapoto-the-willie-jackson-i-know
Make sure you also read the comments esp. the one from Stephen Ihaka. I still have many reservations about Willie but without he has done a lot for poor, urban Māori over the years.
I’m going to try and put a post up about that in the next day or so. I disagree with her evaluation of the relative treatments of Māori and Pākehā radio hosts (but based on memory, I haven’t gone back and looked), but more interesting to me is that I read her piece as an example of how Māori handle things differently than Pākehā. More willing to forgive and be understanding of frailty and find ways of being inclusive as part of the solution.
A lot of the arguments about WJ in the past few weeks look to me to have been (white) feminists arguing with (white) men over rape culture issues and how they play out in Pākehā cultures. Not that all the people arguing have been white, but that the discourse I saw has happened in predominantly Pākehā spaces and those values are there. If women had equitably shared power in Labour, this would have played out differently, and the whole thing is a showcase of the patriarchy within Labour, and the wider culture as much as anything. It’s the still relative powerlessness of women in Pākehā society that jumps out.
Good to have a wahine Māori perspective just to bring that into focus as well as just hear how it looks from that side.
One thing I am tired of though is this idea that a good person can’t be misogynistic in certain areas. We really need to get over that.
then there’s this, which is a very good example of exactly why so much is still made of the issue and will continue to be despite WJ’s other good works.
“Sean Plunket
@SeanPlunket
@etangata good piece. Way to much made of roastbusters affair willy was asking legit questions that reflected the position of many kiwis.”
https://twitter.com/mizjwilliams/status/833167309216714753
I agree with most of your points.
My ongoing problem with Willie is that he still seems to play down the effect of homophobia, misogyny, rape culture etc although I do think he has more understanding now than in the past (I am mainly basing this on tweets from Alison Mau and comments made to me by a couple of Māori friends who know him well).
He is also a bit of a loose cannon and a better talker than he is a listener. These traits can cause more problems than they solve sometimes.
Translation: I am now wealthy enough that I can afford not to give a toss about the people who are struggling to get by. The Willie Jackson issue is a smokescreen to justify to myself voting National so I can stay wealthy, even though I know deep down that National are full of far worse people than Jackson and their policies are terrible for New Zealand as a whole.
I do not own a home and am not wealthy. I would love Labour to take the lead on issues that I think are important but they don’t.
such as?
Make them work for their vote Andrew.
You do not owe it to them or to any other party.
Labour’s got a long, long way to go before it can show it’s bringing back swing voters.
The great majority of whom will be women.
@ Andrew (6.3.1) you state …
“my needs from my government have changed over the last 40 years.”
This attitude is the reason we still have a National government. People voting for THEIR personal needs, with little thought as to what’s beneficial for the nation as a whole, is what’s destroying NZ.
If more voters gave considered attention to what’s best for their country in general, instead of themselves, NZ just might become a more egalitarian place for all Kiwis to live and enjoy.
Part of the problem is that the Right spends all its time destroying society, and then says it’s all about choice.
The system and players are the problem…(let’s ignore those behind the curtain for now)
And when combined with folk who believe that a regular vote equates to ‘freedom/democracy’…
The decline rapidly increases
Voting/voters are the problem you’re incorrectly identifying!
pentagon pays 500m to UK PR firm to create ministry of truth in Iraq,who would have though that?
http://labs.thebureauinvestigates.com/fake-news-and-false-flags/
Well here is an almighty one $Billion dollar Government stuff up. Joyce and Bridges are going to have egg on their faces over this;
“Transport blogger Patrick Reynolds said the purpose of the western ring route was to provide free-flowing traffic but it had been badly designed and would open to gridlock.”
“The reason for that is because of the failure to build parallel rapid transit. There is no busway,” Reynolds said.
“He claimed the ramp signals were being installed because of limitations on the ventilation system in the event of traffic coming to a standstill inside the tunnels.”
I recall Transport Minister Simon Bridges saying “the Waterview tunnel and ring route would be a faultless marvel” kind of thought at the time he would put the kiss of death on the ‘faultless’.
Bound to be hotly debated at the Mt Albert By-Election Transport Debate next Wednesday night.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11803442
If you watch the video it says there’s dedicated bus shoulder lanes.
There is no separated congestion-free busway on either North-Western or South-Western motorways like the one on the Northern motorway from Albany to the Harbour Bridge.
Buses have to merge back into clogged traffic at every overbridge where the shoulder lanes disappear. Transport agencies are only belatedly adding shoulder lanes to the SW motorway in any case.
Seems like another very expensive stuff-up like when the SW was first connected to the Southern motorways, requiring urgent remedial work to correct problems. The whole Western Ring Route from Manukau to Albany totals $4b, yet people have been giving its sub-projects a free pass and whinging instead about the core rail link budgeted at half that amount.
Akl has suffered under every single national govt when it comes to transport.
Muldoon wouldn’t finish the suburban rail network, Williamson sat by whilst Bolger and Shipley plundered the fuel and RUC charges to use elsewhere and now this mob.
Not only has the shonky reign screwed over public transport since day 1 it’s double whammied it by flooding akl with moneyed migrants.
Patrick would do well to keep his powder dry until the SH20 Waterview system actually opens. Lest he’s wrong and looks like a complete dick.
And who would have thunk it? The interviews for the three vacant Auckland Transport Board appointments are in a matter of days.
Ad you should know by now that it’s not too far in the future for complete gridlock in Auckland. The situation deteriorates by the day. It’s very obvious to someone who travels into the city once or twice a month, and not on a daily basis. Over the past 2 – 3 years the traffic flows have become slower and slower and gridlocks occur at anytime of the day. The opening up of SH 20 at Waterview onto SH16 will simply sift the problem from one point to another.
I agree it’s getting worse – and more brittle. Only takes one crash at AM or PM peak to really throw things for an hour.
But NZTA are not proposing SH20 Waterview as a solution to gridlock.
Gridlocks are not necessarily caused by accidents. They invariably occur when too many vehicles all want to be in the same place at the same time – ie the roads become choked and cannot carry the number of vehicles wanting to use them. All over Auckland now this situation is occurring on a daily basis at almost any time of the day. It can take up to 2 hours now in the late afternoon to travel from Auckland airport to Pukekohe a distance of around 40 km.
Accidents of course exacerbate the problem.
it is an interesting area of study
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goVjVVaLe10
Yes – a picture (or in this case video) is worth a thousand words.
That is what we are now experiencing daily on Auckland’s motorways. It’s obvious that what is really needed is not more motorways. What is needed is better public transport thereby relieving the pressure on over crowed motorways.
The Standard leading the political news with Newshub quoting directly from Greg O’Conner’s guest post.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/02/labour-s-h-riu-candidate-greg-o-connor-takes-aim-at-critics.html
Farrar will be spewing.
Heh, thanks for that.
“Labour-aligned blog”. Hmmm. Is that them shit-stirring, or them simply not grasping what TS is? Maybe just being lazy in explaining it properly.
The MSM being lazy? So it ain’t so…
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that they’re ramping up the conflict angle. The post I read was balanced and good-humoured, and the comments have had a similar tone. Hardly “taking aim at critics”. Plus the old chestnut “Labour-aligned bog”. Sigh…
Yep, it’s all in the headline; ‘takes aim’, ‘gun-toting’, ‘fascist cop’.
Poor old Dan Satherley had to get the Standard to do his work for him today though.
Got to love the out going President of Bolivia. President Correa talks to Abby Martin, about what the last 9 years have meant for him, his administration, and the people of Bolivia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwUwzv7cBbk
Farkinell. Could he please come and run New Zealand after he retires?
Just a small correction. Correa is the outgoing president of Ecuador, not Bolivia. Evo Morales is the president of Bolivia. What is true is that in spite of some problems both Ecuador and Bolivia have done pretty well under Left rule.
I think I’m going to post more from this site, which I really enjoy reading. This arrived into my mail box this morning, be prepared to be challenged.
“WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN HERE”
ONE MUJERISTA TALKS BACK TO INTERSECTIONALITY AND WHITE FEMINISM
https://bitchmedia.org/article/dont-let-intersectionality-be-years-buzzword/one-mujerista-lays-out-harmful-realities-white
Thanks for posting this.
Is North Korea Done? I think it may be.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-north-korea-sanctions-coal-economics-nuclear-tests-kim-jong-nam-donald-trump-a7587931.html
Case finally thrown out. Seen this?
http://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/media/council/2017/02/defamation-case-struck-out/
The defense of qualified privilege permits persons in positions of authority or trust to make statements or relay or report statements that would be considered slander and libel if made by anyone else – Wikipedia.
It’s a very detailed written judgement for such a trivial case.
I’m worried about these people.
“Emotionally fragile farmers still trying to rebuild their lives after the earthquake are at breaking point, with police having to confiscate guns for fear of self-harm.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/89383876/Gun-confiscated-as-Marlborough-farmers-battle-quake-trauma
Often we think when things have tidied up after a traumatic event that people just get on with the job. But for many it just doesn’t work like that. It can take years if not a lifetime to work through some trauma and the fallout from it. Trauma has a cascading effect into relationships, self esteem, financial issues, motivation and depression and for most it takes expert help to navigate through these very dangerous shoals.
I know mental health resources are scarce and it can take severe behaviour to trigger them sometimes.
I suppose what I am saying is that if you know someone who may be affected then it is worthwhile offering a compassionate ear to listen to them – it is possible to validate how they are feeling without agreeing with what they are saying eg “It must be really difficult to be feeling that way.” At the bottom of the article are the links to the support services out there – they are important and necessary for helping people and they can help people.
Let’s try and help them if we can.
rich, poor, famous, unknown, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, young, experienced, talented, loud, quiet – don’t be fooled into thinking some are not living in a very difficult place…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11803773
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11802202
Interesting topic MM. I think people who have gone through trauma carry it with them for a long time. From what I’ve seen it’s often dealt with not by talking but its released through other outlets, violence, depression, anger, addictions. Especially men I think find it hard to discuss these/their issues and probably struggle with these things for longer.
I’m not sure what the answers are, a free availability of all kinds of mental health care would be great, getting it out front and centre would reduce the stigma of people too scared to go for help. Maybe also having a compulsory counsellor/psychotherapist always present and available at the local doctor’s practice, so anyone can drop in and know they can get mental health help at any time. That could also help with making people aware that going to the doctor is not about just physical health too. Integrate it so noone bats an eyelid.
Lots of attention given to Peter Thiel’s fast-tracked citizenship, so here’s a bit of context.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich
To Levchin, prepping for survival is a moral miscalculation; he prefers to “shut down party conversations” on the topic. “I typically ask people, ‘So you’re worried about the pitchforks. How much money have you donated to your local homeless shelter?’ This connects the most, in my mind, to the realities of the income gap. All the other forms of fear that people bring up are artificial.” In his view, this is the time to invest in solutions, not escape. “At the moment, we’re actually at a relatively benign point of the economy. When the economy heads south, you will have a bunch of people that are in really bad shape. What do we expect then?”
[…]
By January, 2015, Johnson was sounding the alarm: the tensions produced by acute income inequality were becoming so pronounced that some of the world’s wealthiest people were taking steps to protect themselves. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Johnson told the audience, “I know hedge-fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway.”
I read quite a bit of stuff about Peter Thiel’s citizenship. It got all political, no surprise, and there were all sorts of angles, all sorts of pros and cons and explanations.
To sum all that up without the politics and put it into the sort of succinct reality that big business people like:
Peter Thiel bought citizenship in New Zealand.